It took no less than five hours to move the old pedunculate oak. The tree is 40 years old and stood near a farm that is making way for dozens of homes. The pedunculate oak has now moved to the square in front of the town hall. “And it looks beautiful there,” says Marian van der Weele, mayor of Waterland. “A nice spot for a wedding photo.”
She and others in Monnickendam had been annoyed for a long time by the dead square in front of the town hall. “We’ve been wanting to de-stone the square in front of the town hall for some time. Against heat stress and more biodiversity. Just a bit cozier and greener. That beautiful pedunculate oak here has to go for houses. And so, together with the project developer, we made the plan to transfer the tree .”
And that transfer has quite a few feet in the earth. The tree with the root ball is lifted onto a truck with a huge crane. “It is important that the root ball does not break, because that can break a root. And you don’t want that,” explains Mark de Vries. He is a tree expert for the municipality of Waterland and has slept a little restlessly. “Of course you never know if everything will go well.” But the root ball does not break. Only when passing a lamppost, some branches have to be removed with a cherry picker before the procession can continue.
Poelboom
The spectacular spectacle is viewed by many people from the side as if it were a flower parade. “It’s a fantastic sight,” says a lady, “and it’s nice that a tree with such a history gets a new place here.” Her husband already has a name in mind for the tree. “De Poelboom, or tree of Poel. That’s the name of the farmer where the tree comes from.
According to Mark de Vries, the pedunculate oak is in excellent condition. “The roots look good. Frankly, I’m quite surprised, because the soil near the farm was very wet. And they can’t handle that very well.” He expects the tree to do very well in its new location. “It is much drier and there is enough space in the soil. It can be here for at least another two hundred years.”