Fincastle’s award-winning Honey Locust tree located at Fincastle United Methodist Church received a trimming last Friday morning. A six-person crew, led by International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist and Tree Risk Assessor Anna Copplestone, spent a few hours tending to the tree.
Copplestone’s duties as arborist consists of consulting with homeowners and property managers regarding their options for tree care or removal and as a project manager to get a crew from their first conversation regarding a project to the day where her crew is onsite making all the details happen.
“It is very rewarding work,” Copplestone said when recently asked about her work as an aborist. “My grandparents are Frank and Eleanor Branin, and they have lived in Fincastle since 2012. They know and love this tree and celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary the day we did the pruning. My grandfather recalls that his father’s favorite tree was a honey locust, a fun coincidence.”
If anyone would like to donate to the Grand Champion Tree fund, please send fund donations to Fincastle UMC, P.O. Box 63, Fincastle, 24090, and all who donate will in return be given a token piece off the tree from the trimming. Fincastle UMC’s woodworkers intend to have some items made from the champion tree maintenance for sale at the Fincastle Festival.
~ Fincastle Herald staff report
