Fishkill Sycamore tree get's a "stay."

Susan Campriello at scampriell@poughkee.gannett.com or 845-451-4518. For more local news. Subscribe to the Poughkeepsie Journal as I do.Or check out it's website.

FISHKILL — Beacon resident Andrew Bell drove to the Village of Fishkill on Tuesday morning when he heard a sycamore some believe could be about 200 years or more old was going to be cut down.

“I was hoping that with enough public outcry something could be done,” said the 50-year-old who works at IBM.

A gathering Tuesday followed a rally to save the tree that was held Monday morning and attended by about 30 people, according to local historian Mara Farrell, who supports saving the tree.

According to village Mayor James Miccio, who also represents Fishkill on the county Legislature, the tree has received a “stay,” and only dangerous branches were trimmed Tuesday.

Miccio said the decision not to take the tree down came after the village’s tree service noted that it could temporarily be made safe. Miccio had previously understood that the tree had to come down, and he asked the company to provide a health and safety assessment.

“It doesn’t hurt anybody to get it clarified,” he said, adding the work Tuesday was to make the tree as safe as possible. The village, he said, is responsible for the health and safety of its residents.

Miccio said he would read the assessment if it was ready and discuss the process the village took while determining whether the tree should come down at a meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. today at Van Wyck Hall.

Farrell said the tree “could well be well over” 200 years old, basing that estimation of age from the size of the tree and what she called a 7-foot diameter. Steve Lynch, president of the Fishkill Historical Society, estimated the tree’s diameter at 6 feet, and said he believed it has been standing for about 200 years. But he and Fishkill Town Historian Willa Skinner said they did not know of historical photographs or documents that could shed light on the giant’s age.

Miccio said dropping branches over the years have damaged a shed at the fire department and a generator and other objects.

The removal would cost roughly $3,500, he said, adding that costs were to have been shared with the neighboring Ketcham Motors Inc.

Donald Vanvoorhis, Ketcham Motors’ part owner, said he had revoked his permission to cut the tree Tuesday after he had heard it did not need to come down.

The company modified a wall about 25 or 30 years ago to accommodate the growing tree, he said.

Lee Kristoferson, of the village’s contractor Lee’s Tree Service, said Tuesday’s crown and branch trimming would only prolong the inevitable.

Both live and dead branches were trimmed Tuesday, according to Kristoferson’s son, Sean, who also works for the company.