Community activists worked for more than a year and a half to protect a Garry oak tree in Tumwater, Washington, that the city estimates is 400 years old. A superior court judge ruled in late December that the city’s Historic Preservation Commission has the final word on what happens to the tree, not the city.
The concerns started in 2024. The former Mayor of Tumwater announced that the city would remove the huge oak tree, citing safety concerns, after it dropped a large branch from 50 feet. The tree soars 85 feet tall. Its crown spans 80 feet from edge to edge and the trunk's diameter at breast height is five and a half feet.
Several city council members objected to the mayor’s executive action. Dozens of community members spoke out in a packed public hearing in June. And a small group took legal action to stop the city from cutting the tree down.
They argued that the tree is listed with Tumwater’s Historic Preservation Commission, so only the commission can decide the tree's fate.
“...and that's how the law has been all along. We just had to get a court of appeals to back us up on that,” said Ronda Larsen Kramer, the group’s lead attorney. On Dec. 26, Thurston Superior Court Judge Anne Egeler did just that. The community won.
Huge canopy overhangs Highway 99
Kramer has donated countless hours to this fight.
“Because I love this tree, and I think it's the right thing to do, and I also do not like injustice,” she said, standing next to the tree, in an August 2024 interview.
Its massive canopy overhangs Old Highway 99 near a small regional airport. The chain link fence that encircles its massive trunk was covered with flags and glittery signs put up by supporters.
Also there was a member of Tumwater’s Historic Preservation Commission, former Washington State Historical Society director David Nicandri. Standing in the shade beneath the tree, looking down the road, he said the tree stands as a marker alongside one of the oldest transportation corridors in all of the Pacific Northwest.
“This was historically a Native American concourse. The tribes that go from the Columbia River to Puget Sound, this was their original path,” he said. “Where we're looking at right now is the original segment of the Oregon Trail.”
He said it is also known as the Cowlitz Trail, which later became Highway 1 and then Highway 99. And the tree shows up in texts and oral histories as a waypoint and trail marker for people crossing the Cascade mountains toward the coast, Nicandri said.
“So yeah, the tree is a historic landmark, without question.”
This is not the first time public outcry has saved the tree. In 1984, when highway improvements threatened the tree, community members rose up in protest. The city opted to move the road rather than harming the oak. Its listing on the city’s register of historic places followed that effort, in 1995.
Nicandri said that’s why the city’s historic preservation commission unanimously opposed the former mayor’s efforts to de-list the tree or otherwise endorse its removal. Their actions ultimately led to its salvation.
The most recent risk-assessment of the tree, commissioned by the city of Tumwater in February 2025, said the tree is very healthy and poses at most a moderate risk to the city. However, it will require some investment in mitigation measures moving forward. The city adopted a resolution in April allocating $55,000 to that end.
A unique case
“All the energy that everybody’s put into this case and this effort and this movement is worth it,” said Kramer, the attorney. She said the ruling ensures this tree is protected under the law, not by political whim.
“This case is a lesson that you can succeed if you just try,” she said.
She also believes this was the first time a court has enforced local historic-preservation protections for a natural structure—rather than a building. She hopes it sets a precedent that could help other communities in the future.
