Signal Tree likely to remain off limits for several years

Derek Kreider

Akron Beacon Journal USA TODAY NETWORK

Akron’s beloved Signal Tree will remain out of the public eye for quite awhile yet until the commotion around the more than 300-year-old burr oak dies down.

The Chuckery Area in Cascade Valley Metro Park is serving as a staging ground for the Northside Interceptor Tunnel project currently in progress just north of the tree, and will be a permanent storage area for tons of contaminated sediment dredged from behind the Gorge Dam, and the area is closed to the public.

However, construction crews are giving the tree itself a wide berth.

“It was identified from day one as an area that we needed to stay away from,” Mike Johnson, Summit Metro Parks’ chief conservationist, said. “So, the parking lot for the Signal Tree is being used for staging right now, but the area around the tree is completely off limits to anything, even staging of equipment.”

Johnson estimated that it will be at least three years until the Signal Tree can receive visitors again.

Heather Ullinger, senior engineer with the city of Akron, said that three years is a fair estimate. That’s approximately when the projects underway in the vicinity might be completed.

There were other areas nearby that were identified as places to avoid including wetlands, and staircases built by workers employed by the Depression- era Works Progress Administration, said Johnson.

“Our whole tunnel project, all of the structures, are specifically laid out to avoid all of the things that [Johnson] mentioned,” said Ullinger.

Johnson said the parks district is at ease with the city-led work going on around the tree because, “they know what the Signal Tree is.”

When a federal contractor comes to

town for the sediment removal process, Johnson said, additional protection will be added near the tree, either fencing or an abundance of signage.

He said contractors are sometimes unaware that placing heavy equipment at the base of a tree can crush its roots, killing it.

Keeping the tree spry in its old age requires some pro-bono help from Kentbased Davey Tree Expert Company, Johnson said.

Sandra Reid, executive vice president, corporate communications and strategic planning, explained via email how Davey Tree has cared for the Signal Tree since 2018.

Annually, crews from the company’s Akron office prune and fertilize the tree, Reid said, and this year, after the summer storms, they reinstalled cables and bracing to support the tree’s heavy limbs.

“Like most trees, The Signal Tree needs regular maintenance and upkeep to flourish and thrive,” said Reid.

“Davey’s crews are proud to be the caretakers of this majestic tree so it can continue to provide the many environmental benefits to the people and wildlife that visit it every day.”

“The tree itself is legendary,” Johnson said.

“It is an icon for our area. We don’t know for sure what it meant, or if it necessarily meant anything to native people; we don’t know, we just don’t. We have a lot of guessing, a lot of speculation, there’s a lot of legend about it, but we really don’t know for sure. Regardless of what it meant in the past, it’s an icon for today and many people look to it as a symbol of conservation.”

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com or 330-5419413.