About 10 years ago, the county “randomly” (we suspect our neighbors complained) decided that the trees on our property were in the right of way of the road, and were causing trouble for large trucks and farm equipment. These were trees that had been there for dozens of years, not causing trouble until the larger vehicles began using the road, and even then, the branches were only brushing them. So, one Thursday, the county sent out people who marked the trees to be torn down, and began removing the original fence around the property, which my own great-grandfather had installed. That same day, they started cutting down the trees, some being 100-year-old pines from our pine tree forest. My family tried to see what they could do to stop it, or who they could call to talk about it. They were upset to lose the trees, and especially upset because the removal of the trees would expose our swimming pond to the road. After being given a name of someone they could call, and the information of the man in charge, they learned that he would conveniently be out of town and out of the office until Monday. The workers clearing the trees continued tearing down the trees over the weekend, since there was not much we could do. They worked late into the evening and even on Sunday, so by Monday, when the man in charge was available, the job was already done, and the ancient trees were just lumber. This was a destruction of my environment not just by the county for roads, but also by the farming industry, who wanted the road to be clear for their tractors and sprayers. Today, while some of the plants have grown back, it is mostly weeds and small trees that block our pond from the road, and the place where the towering pines were is still noticeably empty.
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