For Immediate Release 4 August 2024
Contact:
Michelle Peterson, 360 878-7689, michellepeterson.RN@gmail.com
Ronda Larson Kramer, 360 259-3076, ronda@larsonlawpllc.com
Reports and background documents under Media Resources Save the Davis Meeker Garry Oak
Information Links: http://linktr.ee/TumwaterOakDonation Link: https://www.davis-meeker-oak.org/donate
Hashtags: #tumwateroak #SaveTheTree
City of Tumwater Reduces Speed Limit Under the Davis Meeker Oak
DATELINE— TUMWATER, WA
Over the weekend, the City of Tumwater posted street signs on Old Highway 99 at the controversial Davis Meeker oak tree, reducing the speed limit to 30 miles per hour and warning that limbs may fall.
Michelle Peterson, spokesperson for a citizen activist group working to stop the mayor from cutting down the tree, said the group welcomed this move. “We hope this signals a change by the mayor toward mitigation and away from cutting down the tree,” she said. “Changing surrounding infrastructure rather than removing the tree is a win-win for the community and the mayor.”
Musician Dana Lyons will hold a CD release party on August 16 at which the group, Save the Davis Meeker Garry Oak, will have a silent auction with 20 two-year-old seedlings from the tree to raise money for legal fees.
The controversy surrounding the tree stems from a branch that dropped over a year ago on May 16, 2023. A photo taken by city workers immediately after it dropped shows the branch tips extending slightly into the roadway, while the majority of the branch fell directly under the tree.
The Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation has told the city that it is legally prohibited from cutting down the tree without a permit. The Nisqually Tribe has also asked the city not to cut down the tree until the tribe has had an opportunity to review the situation.
Many view the tree as a critical piece of Tumwater’s pioneer history. It stood beside an ancient Native American trade route called the Cowlitz Trail, which later became a spur of the Oregon Trail.
Oral history of pioneer descendants indicates the tree may have been the go-to camping spot for newly arrived settlers. James Thomas is writing an article for the Thurston County Historical Journal on his ancestor T.J. Harper, who came west with Tumwater Pioneer Ezra Meeker. Meeker is the pioneer after whom the Davis Meeker oak was named.
Thomas relates how Tumwater settlers George and Isabella Bush, whose farm was near the Davis Meeker oak, told the Meeker party to camp under the tree. “Mr. Bush suggested that they camp under the giant oak tree on unclaimed land just northwest of his home. He said the surrounding prairie would provide browse for the livestock and a small lake, just to the east, would be a convenient place to water the stock. My family believes that the Davis-Meeker oak, the largest in the area, is the one they camped under.”
Thomas said, “I would not be surprised if Mr. Bush often directed other new arrivals to camp at the oak tree because of the convenience of nearby water and food for livestock.”
The Davis Meeker oak seedlings that will be auctioned off on August 16 were from acorns collected and grown by Burnt Ridge Nursery and Orchards.
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