Many in the Vilas Park area are mourning the loss of one of the city?s most magnificent oak trees, which they say was butchered by the city this morning even as neighbors were lobbying to save it. City crews lopped off the tree?s last remaining branches around 8 after park officials deemed them to be a hazard.
Late last week, the top of the tree crashed to the ground in the middle of the night, leaving it looking like a headless torso with arms askew. But it was still alive and it was still beautiful, says Bill Barker, a parks commissioner and a geology professor at UW-Madison who happened to be biking past Friday when city crews first tried to cut it down.