By Nate Jones
Staff Writer


Elsa, the large and historic elm tree atop Oak Hill at the intersection of Gorham Road, Black Point Road and Route 1 in Scarborough, will be visited this spring by arborists who have been treating the 150-year-old specimen in an effort to preserve Oak Hill’s landmarks for the past several years.
“We’re really trying to preserve part of the identity of Oak Hill,” Public Works Director Mike Shaw said. “It’s become a health issue for the tree and a safety issue for motorists.”
Shaw said the health of the tree has been declining since the widening of Route 1 in the Oak Hill area, which damaged a large portion of its root structure.
“It was actually scheduled for takedown,” he said.
Bartlett Tree Experts representative Tim Lindsay has been tending to Elsa’s needs for several years, including injecting fungicide, a sort of Elm Disease “flu shot,” directly into the tree’s root system.
“There’s no disease in that tree,” he said. “It just lost a lot of big, major roots and the decay is going back into the tree.”
Elsa’s existing roots were re-fertilized three times in the last 10 years as part of a root invigoration process, Lindsay said.
“We inject nutrients into the roots, and have had good success turning dying trees around in the past,” he said.
Several times the Scarborough Fire Department has watered the tree as part of the root rejuvenation process, Lindsay said. Both Shaw and Lindsay said they believed Elsa may have also been struck by lightning recently, causing the bark to separate from the trunk of the tree. Lindsay said the damage only increases the speed of Elsa’s decay.  
“Elms grow fast; if any tree can bounce back, an elm can,” he said. “I think maybe Elsa’s just beyond return.”
Lindsay will oversee the removal of several of her limbs hanging over Route 1 and possibly more on the opposite side of the tree “to balance her out.” Although the limbs hanging over the road showed signs of budding last year, he said this past winter “did them in.”
“They’re presenting a risk to traffic,” Lindsay said.
While Lindsay estimated Elsa could stand on her own for another 10 years, the tree most likely will not be given the chance to survive that long.
“We want to maintain the integrity of Oak Hill, but I think it’s going to hurt too much to look at,” he said. “I have a feeling it will be taken down before it dies on its own.”
Although trees the size of Elsa can be expensive to buy, Lindsay said it would be fairly simple to transplant another “good-sized” elm tree near the spot where Elsa now stands.
“Six to 12 inch diameter trees are available,” he said.
Any replacement tree would have to be moved slightly farther from the road to allow expansion of its root system, but Lindsay said he was confident another tree could survive in the small parcel of town-owned property as long as it remained unmolested by any further expansion of Route 1.
Shaw said crews are scheduled to work on Elsa starting at 5:30 a.m. May 21. One lane of Route 1 will be closed during the work. 
“We’re going to try to get it done at times other than the commuting hours,” he said. “Ideally we’d like to be cleared up by drive time.