I live off Ohio Boulevard, one of the main thoroughfares in Terre Haute. I love where I live. I love that at least three or four times a week, I step out my front door and run up “The Boulevard” to Deming Park, which is 1.25 miles from my house. I love seeing the old houses on the street, all looking nothing like their neighbor. And I love that when I exited the park to make the 1.25-mile run back home, there was a good stretch of area that was just trees — big, beautiful green trees. Hitting that stretch of trees and their shade on a hot and humid summer day was an absolute gift.
In the years I’ve lived here and in the thousands of miles I’ve run along Ohio Boulevard, I never imagined those trees would suddenly be gone. But sadly, that’s what recently happened.
Over a course of weeks, I saw equipment destroying all the growing trees. And now it’s just extremely depressing cleared fields and piles of dead wood.
And for what reason was this destruction done? Most likely to build housing. Housing that the city council voted against being developed by a local developer, and the majority of Ohio Boulevard residents were against.
Some say the trees were cut for “agriculture.” But, when a representative from that same development company is quoted in the local paper saying the following, it’s pretty obvious why the natural landscape was destroyed:
“Despite the city council’s disappointing vote last June, we remain focused on the development of the property and will continue to take steps toward growth rather than stagnation. The cleaning of the site is a necessary next step in that effort.”
When I moved to Indiana 10 years ago, the biggest thing that struck me was the green, the trees, and the solitude and beauty of stretches of nothing in front of you but nature. I like living in a place where every natural space is not built upon; where cookie cutter houses are not the norm.
Truth be told, I never thought I’d find myself so sad about the destruction of innocent trees. … I know there’s nothing to be done now. So in the meantime, I’m trying to make my peace with that space when I run past it. And I’ll pray for “agriculture” — or at least trees.