Photos of the Week: In Memoriam | The Jones Library’s Trees
This American Elm behind the Jones library was one of about a dozen large trees that were felled to make way for the impending demolition of the 1993 addition to the library. Photo: Josna Rege
During the week of July 24, the Jones Library Expansion Project removed more than a dozen trees behind and to the west of the library in preparation for the demolition of the building’s 1993 addition. The Indy received notes of lamentation for the lost trees from readers, including a letter from Maria Kopicki that was posted in last week’s Indy.
In her introduction she said, “On July 24, 2025 the beautiful Norway Spruce tree that graced the land between the Jones Library and Strong House for decades was felled in the relentless pursuit of the oversized, overpriced library demolition/expansion project. Only its very healthy looking grand stump remained next to the stone bench that sat under its branches.”
And Jim Turner reported ,“ I took a walk behind the Jones on Friday after seeing the sidewalk closed in the front of the building. I felt like crying when I saw the carnage…I don’t know what kind of trees were cut down but they were hardwood and there were at least a dozen stumps of which three where large enough that you couldn’t have wrapped your arms all the way around them.”
Several readers sent us photos, some of which are reproduced below.
Our feature, Photo of the Week, presents each week, a new picture by a local photographer. We invite local photographers to share their photographs here. Please include a description/caption and an indication of who is to be credited.
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With the library ,and the Rafters site being demolished, makes question our current form of government. It is the Wild West . An out of control entity .
NO confidence is my sentiment . I am ready to support a no confidence vote .
It is hard to witness the profit-driven values that Amherst now follows that serve to line the pockets of a few developers. Nowhere is it more apparent that we are headed in the wrong direction than the Jones Library project, the clearest example of a wasteful, unsustainable demolition that does not value the natural world or our town’s history. Earlier in the process the Library Trustees reassured the public that everything possible would be done to save the trees on site. Does it seem plausible to anyone that it was just a coincidence that the majestic Norway Spruce suddenly became dangerous and had to be preemptively cut down in the exact area where the Fontaine Brothers will stage the demolition? And it was the Fontaine Brother’s arborist that decreed the death sentence. Further, will anyone be surprised that with demolition of this magnitude, the 1750’s Strong House Museum next door will suffer irreparable damage to its dry-stone foundation and it too will need to be demolished? And once a gigantic Jones Library is built, suddenly it will become apparent that the Town needs a new parking garage behind the library or perhaps on the former Strong House Museum site? Soon Amherst, once a charming college town, will feel like Storrs, Connecticut, a sterile office park. Visit Storrs, if you want to see what the powers that be have planned for Amherst.
Peggy : you captured my frustration far more eloquently. To some , all of this activity may seem like progress , growth . To me it is exactly as you stated . It will be tough on the taxpayer and the Students, as we endure all of this construction in town . Great planning .
It’s the Trees
Those who embrace the Trees or
those who care not their presence
those humans willing to conquer in
their thinking Nature and her gifts
Her tests and disregard rooted in
another way beyond their sight or
seeming lack of comprehension
the Trees give to them anyway
elements of life and comfort
perhaps undeserved in cold or
summer’s hot breath wilting all in
a world gone mad alienation from
this here Creation dwindling before
the very eyes beholding it as
She slips away today yesterday
and into the troubled future
I am shocked and hurt by the removal of these beautiful trees and assume I’m not alone. This was done without thoughtfulness or transparency.
The wants of the few have outweighed the wants of the many. The trees have fallen silently, as have the voices of the majority of town residents, who despite footing the bill for this “necessary” library, will likely never step foot inside of it. I think the fact that 3 institutions of higher learning make Amherst their home should be sufficient proof that education is valued here. I can’t wait to see the final bill.
The felling of healthy, mature trees should be avoided whenever possible, and even more so in the case of a healthy American elm.
It looks like this was a case of act first, and ask for forgiveness later — except it doesn’t look like any forgiveness or even explanation will enter the picture. Likely officials knew that the planned loss of these trees would provoke a healthy civic reaction, which would have been bothersome and much to be avoided. Of course, this being Amherst, if protests against the plan arose, probably someone would have claimed to have found an insect — any insect would do — and thus the offending tree would be declared unhealthy and a sure threat to public health and safety, thus legally sanctioning its demise.
If a tree on public property is within 20 feet of the boundary along a roadway right of way, then it may be considered a public shade tree under MGL c.87, and its removal would require a public hearing under the auspices of the tree warden.
• Were any of these trees so situated?
• Was there any public notice given prior to their removal [a stronger word comes to mind, but since sensitive people may read this, our dear readers — unlike these trees — will be spared]?
• Was there a public hearing specific to their removal?
Rob raises an interesting point, but is the Jones Library located on public property? Since the Town does not own the Jones Library building, it seems likely it is on private property, so the Public Shade Tree law may not be applicable for the fate of the Norway Spruce and other mature trees on the site. The Town is very good at finding legal loopholes.
While the land title may be held by The Jones Library, Incorporated, presumably that’s a “legal fiction” in the same way that the Amherst Conservation Commission holds title to the many public conservation areas in town, and the Amherst School Committee is title holder for the various public school sites….
The Jones Library property is subject to a 30-year easement/deed-restriction for its exclusive use as a public library for the Town of Amherst, signed in 2021 by the Town Manager and the Library Trustees, who are, respectively, the relevant appointed and elected public officials of the city known as the Town of Amherst. If that doesn’t make the site de facto — if not de jure — public property, what does?
In any event, it may be interesting to watch the lawyers wriggle out of whatever wormholes or legal loopholes necessary to excuse this: perhaps their castings could fertilize new gardens behind the library once the project is over — or will it just be artificial turf or the entrance to a multi-level parking garage)?
I wrote to the town manager, the council, and others. I was upset about the removal of the trees, the manager tried to explain, but went on to say who paid for their removal as though that was important, which I felt was just a distraction or non-issue, meant to try and confuse me.