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Save the Chippewa Tree

There is a live oak on Chippewa Trail in Maitland, Florida that our neighborhood has come to know simply as the “Chippewa Tree”. It has stood here for generations, a quiet, magnificent presence whose 52-inch trunk and sprawling canopy have sheltered this street through every season, every hurricane, and every change our community has seen. A city arborist visited it in April 2026 and found it in exceptional health. No disease. No decay. No stressors of any kind. It is, by every measure, a thriving, irreplaceable piece of our natural heritage.

And right now, it is in serious danger of being lost forever.

On May 11, 2026, the Maitland City Council voted to construct a sidewalk directly through the Chippewa Tree's root system. I wish I could tell you this was a decision made in ignorance, that no one realized what was at stake. But that isn't what happened. The city's own staff report, presented to the Council at that very meeting, warned in plain language that the chosen alignment "carries the highest likelihood of damaging the tree through root pruning." It confirmed that the tree's feeder roots extend 50 to 90 feet from the trunk. It acknowledged that even shifting the sidewalk slightly closer to the curb "would not significantly reduce root impacts, as root cutting would still be required." 

The Council read all of this. Then they voted to proceed anyway.

What makes this so hard to accept is that safer paths were on the table. The city's staff presented five options. Two of them; Option 4 which would have moved the sidewalk to the south side of Chippewa Trail and Option 5 a reroute along Tomahawk Trail would have required only one driveway crossing instead of eleven would have completely avoided the Chippewa Tree. Both were rejected in favor of the option the city's own staff had flagged as most likely to cause irreversible harm.

The vote has been cast, and the city has no plans to revisit it. 

Construction could begin at any time. Once those roots are cut, there is no going back. A tree this size and this age, this ecological presence cannot be replaced in any of our lifetimes. It would take well over a century for any newly planted tree to approach what the Chippewa Tree offers today; the shade it casts, the stormwater it absorbs, the wildlife it shelters, the irreplaceable character it gives to this street and this neighborhood. We are not asking the city to abandon the sidewalk. We are asking them to build it on one of the routes their own staff already proposed, routes that achieve the same goal without destroying something that can never be brought back. Maitland holds the Tree City USA designation, which exists precisely for moments like this one. It is time for our city to honor that commitment.

The only thing that will change the Council's course is an unmistakable show of community support. Every signature on this petition is a voice telling Maitland's leaders that this community is watching, that this tree matters, and that we expect them to do better.

Please sign if you are a city of Maitland resident. Please share with every neighbor and fellow Maitland resident you know. The Chippewa Tree has stood for generations. With enough voices, we can make sure it stands for generations more but we have to act now, before the first root is cut.  

You can send an email directly to your Maitland City Council member in 30 seconds at ChippewaTree.com. Please do it now.

WARNING- We are not soliciting donations. MONEY PAID TO THIS WEBSITE SUPPORTS ONLY CHANGE.ORG