Tumwater Historic Commission Votes Unanimously to Preserve Davis Meeker Oak
Commission endorses retaining the 400-year-old landmark with supplemental supports and pruning following September windstorm
TUMWATER, WA — Following a September 25 windstorm that caused two large branches from the southwest stem of the historic Davis Meeker oak to break, the Tumwater Historic Preservation Commission voted unanimously on October 15 to reject proposals to remove the tree or turn it into a snag for wildlife. Instead, it voted to retain the tree with supplemental supports and pruning.
Meteorologist Scott Sistek described the September 25 weather event as a “potent-for-September” storm. Gusts at the Olympia Airport where the oak tree stands reached 54 mph within the same hour the branches broke.
The storm raised renewed questions about the future of the approximately 400-year-old tree, which is on the Tumwater Register of Historic Places.
The Commission considered a new assessment prepared by Todd Prager & Associates on October 14, 2026 by the same consulting firm that evaluated the tree in February 2025. Although both the old and new assessments identify retention as a management alternative, the two reports differ in their presentation of the long-term costs of preserving the tree.
The February 2025 report, a comprehensive Level 3 advanced risk assessment, identifies pruning, supplemental support, root-zone improvements, and monitoring as a reasonably prudent management alternative that could potentially be “the lowest cost option over the long-term” if the tree was retained.
The October 2026 report is a less comprehensive Level 2 assessment authored by a different arborist at the same firm. It lists substantially the same maintenance measures for the option of retaining the tree but characterizes them as having the “highest ongoing cost” of three options for the historic commission to choose from. The other two options listed in the report are tree removal and turning the tree into a snag, which the report calls a “wildlife tree.”
The 2026 report does not acknowledge the 2025 report’s conclusion that retaining the tree could be the least expensive option over the long term, and it does not explain why its cost estimate differs from the earlier report.
The Davis Meeker oak was still fully leafed-out during the unusually strong early storm, increasing the wind load on its branches. The October 2026 arborist's report specifically identified this as a contributing factor in the branch failure. Also, the February 2025 assessment specifically recommended length reduction on southwest-stem branches with poor attachments, the same general area of the tree that experience the September 2026 failure.
ISA certified arborist Ray Gleason, who in 2008 began volunteering his professional services to care for the Davis Meeker oak, gave public comment to the Historic Commission before its vote. Gleason challenged the 2026 report's characterization of the storm damage as a significant threat to the Davis Meeker oak's health. The report warned that the loss of two large branches, representing an estimated 32 percent of the tree's crown, could itself lead to significant decline. Gleason emphasized the oak's natural resilience and ability to recover from substantial canopy loss.
"The commonly cited 30 percent limit on annual foliage removal is an outdated ISA guideline," Gleason told the Commission, referring to the International Society of Arboriculture. He said, "In my professional opinion, that percentage is arbitrary and not particularly relevant to this situation. What matters is the species and the tree's physiological capacity to recover."
"I am not particularly concerned about this Garry oak losing 30 percent of its foliage," Gleason continued. "I believe it could recover even from a 50 percent loss."
Scientific literature supports the resilience of Garry oaks to substantial foliage loss. A 2019 peer-reviewed study of mature Garry oaks at Joint Base Lewis-McChord found that tree mortality was rare even after extensive crown scorching and that some severely damaged trees subsequently regenerated foliage within their crowns.
Gleason expressed greater concern about excessive pruning of the Davis Meeker oak.
"What concerns me much more is the possibility of making large, arbitrary height-reduction cuts," he told the Commission. "Those cuts could seriously compromise the tree's ability to recover. There is an important difference between carefully targeted structural pruning and excessive crown reduction."
According to NC State Extension, “Topping done on mature trees is an unacceptable practice that negatively affects tree health.” The publication explains that such cuts can stimulate vigorous new shoots with weak attachments, creating future structural hazards.
Save the Davis-Meeker Garry Oak, the nonprofit organization that successfully challenged the City's earlier efforts to remove the tree, welcomed the Commission's unanimous vote to retain the tree.
"This is wonderful news for the Davis Meeker oak," said Ronda Larson Kramer, one of the lead attorneys for the organization. "We are grateful to every member of the Historic Preservation Commission for their thoughtful consideration of this extraordinary tree and their commitment to protecting Tumwater's irreplaceable history. Also, we deeply appreciate the mayor's willingness to work with the Commission."
The Historic Commission's unanimous vote on October 15, 2026, was the second time the Commission voted to preserve the tree. The first time was in 2024, when it declined former Mayor Debbie Sullivan’s request that it remove the tree from the Tumwater Register of Historic Places so that she could have the tree cut down.
Although the Historic Preservation Commission declined to remove the tree from Tumwater's historic register in April 2024, former Mayor Debbie Sullivan continued pursuing its removal. On Thursday, May 23, 2024, an anonymous informant warned a member of the nonprofit organization that the mayor had accepted a bid and arranged for the tree to be cut down over the coming Memorial Day weekend “when everyone was out of town.” Acting on the warning, the organization obtained an emergency temporary restraining order on May 24, 2024, preventing the tree's destruction just days before it was scheduled to occur.
In separate orders, the Washington Court of Appeals and the superior court later ruled that before altering or destroying the historic tree, the mayor is required by city code and state law to obtain permission from both the Tumwater Historic Preservation Commission and the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
The Davis Meeker oak had been a trail marker on the historic Cowlitz Trail, a Native American trade route connecting the Columbia River with the Puget Sound. The trail later became a northern spur of the Oregon Trail.
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Timeline:
· May 16, 2023: Branch drops onto dirt next to the base of the tree.
· March 21, 2024: Mayor asks city historic commission to “approve a recommendation to the Tumwater City Council for de-listing the Davis/Meeker Oak from the City’s Historic Register.”
· April 18, 2024: After discussing it over the course of two meetings, Historic Commission declines mayor’s request to remove tree from city’s historic register.
· May 21, 2024: City Attorney calls the situation an “emergency” and tells city council that therefore Tumwater’s Historic Preservation Ordinance does not require Historic Preservation Commission approval before the tree may be removed.
· May 23, 2024 (Thursday): Mayor Sullivan sends an email announcing a memorial for the Davis Meeker oak on May 30. That afternoon, City Transportation Operations Manager Marc LaVack sends an internal email recruiting eight workers for overnight traffic control associated with the tree's removal, stating that the work would occur between 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. The same day, an anonymous informant warns a member of Save the Davis-Meeker Garry Oak that the mayor has arranged to remove the tree over the coming Memorial Day weekend, “when everyone is out of town.” Mayor Sullivan later states in a court declaration that removal was scheduled for Tuesday, May 28.
· May 24, 2024 (Friday): Judge Sharonda Amamilo grants emergency temporary restraining order, preventing the scheduled removal of the tree at the end of the coming weekend.
· May 31, 2024: Judge Anne Egeler dissolves the temporary restraining order.
· June 4, 2024: Public testimony and city council persuade Mayor Sullivan to obtain a second arborist opinion before removing the tree.
· July 2024: Washington Court of Appeals stays proceedings while the parties seek a supersedeas stay in superior court.
· September 2024: Judge Egeler sets a $10,000 supersedeas bond after rejecting the mayor’s request for a $10 million bond and approximately $58,000 in attorney fees; Krag Unsoeld posts the bond, preserving the stay during the appeal.
· February 7, 2025: Todd Prager & Associates completes a Level 3 Advanced Tree Risk Assessment commissioned by the City. After climbing inspection, sonic tomography at eight locations, root-crown excavation and other analysis, the assessment found all but one assessed tree part to be low risk and one moderate risk over the three-year assessment period. It identified retention and active management as a reasonably prudent alternative to removal, including “reduction pruning to reduce risk of branch failure.” For the southwest stem, the report specifically directed: “emphasize length reduction on branches with poor attachments.”
· July 2025: Washington Court of Appeals holds that Tumwater’s Historic Preservation Ordinance requires Historic Preservation Commission approval before the mayor may remove the tree.
· December 2025: Judge Egeler enters a permanent injunction implementing the Court of Appeals’ decision.
· July 16, 2026: Judge Egeler enters an agreed order declaring that approval from the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation is also required under RCW 27.53.060.
· September 25, 2026: Two large branches from the southwest portion of the oak fail during a windstorm while the tree was still in leaf, falling onto the grass next to the tree. No injuries or vehicle damage occur. Arborist Jesse Brighten says airport wind gauges recorded gusts of 54 mph within the same hour as the failure and that the failed portion on southwest stem had been identified for load-reduction pruning in the February 2025 assessment.
· October 15, 2026: Tumwater Historic Preservation Commission votes unanimously to retain the tree with pruning and structural supports and to reject proposals to turn it into a snag or to remove it entirely.
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