As an art teacher at Kalaheo Elementary, Jennie Hutchings used to sketch and photograph the trees in the playground, which included an Indian Banyan and Cook Island pines. Now living and teaching on the North Shore, Hutchings took advantage of
As an art teacher at Kalaheo Elementary, Jennie Hutchings used to sketch and photograph the trees in the playground, which included an Indian Banyan and Cook Island pines. Now living and teaching on the North Shore, Hutchings took advantage of an offer for a ride to Kalaheo yesterday so she could see the trees.
“I came to visit the trees,” Hutchings said. “I hadn’t been down here for a long time and wanted to give the trees my love.”
As she approached the playground, she noticed sawdust drifting to the ground like snowflakes as workers started to cut down one of the pines.
Using a crane to work from the top of the tree, Kelly Franklin of Aloha Tree Trimmers chainsawed a 12-foot section to be lowered to workers on the ground. Once on the ground, the section was readied for transport.
Makaio Perreira, also of Aloha Tree Trimmers, said he wasn’t exactly sure why they were cutting down the trees, but figured it was a safety issue.
“If these trees were to fall, it would slice the school right in half,” Perreira said.
Besides the possible danger of the trees falling, termites are another problem.
Perreira said that they recently cut down a Cook Island pine near St. Sylvester’s Church in Kilauea that was full of termites.
“The tree was hollow all the way up to the top 15-feet,” Perreira said.
The work started on the trees by Aloha Tree Trimmers, who has a contract with the school, will be finished sometime next week.
