A centuries-old ponderosa pine that stood for generations on the slopes of Little Prospect Mountain was removed this week, near downtown Estes Park. The massive tree, which divided Cyteworth Road into two narrow passages, presented a significant obstacle to firefighters and other emergency responders, prompting its removal to enhance community safety.
Eleven households along the private roadway weighed the loss of a living connection to the Estes Valley’s past against the critical need to protect their homes and lives. Neighbors contributed $3,750, supplementing a $3,000 grant from the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, administered through the Larimer County Community Mitigation Grant program, to arrange the tree’s removal.
The enormous ponderosa pine stood directly in the middle of Cyteworth Road until Wednesday, forcing vehicles to pass on either side of its trunk. At its narrowest point, only 11 feet separated the tree from the nearest house. This passage was difficult for passenger vehicles, particularly during winter storms, and posed a greater concern for fire engines and other emergency vehicles due to limited clearance.
The road also ends without a turnaround egress for large emergency vehicles, creating potential difficulties for firefighters to reach homes, position equipment, or safely leave the area during a wildfire. Logan Lasley, formerly the Estes Valley Fire Protection District’s wildland risk reduction educator, previously described the road as an area in need of mitigation. During a property assessment on Cyteworth last year, Lasley identified other hazards, including junipers, trees encroaching on the roadway, accumulated pine needles and cones, and vegetation that could increase wildfire intensity or obstruct emergency access. Lasley also recommended removing one or both of two moss rock pillars at the road’s entrance, which represent another chapter in Estes Park’s history, having once supported the Clatworthy Arch.
Concerns about Cyteworth Road are not new. On August 28, 1962, the Estes Park Town Board heard a report from its street committee chairman, John Ramey, regarding a request for the Town to assume maintenance of the road. Ramey recommended against it, citing the road’s 16.7% grade and narrow right-of-way. The Town subsequently declined maintenance, citing the road’s width, access problems, steep slope, substandard drainage, and wildfire hazards. More than 64 years later, these concerns remain.
The road was built when vehicles, emergency response requirements, and access expectations differed considerably from today’s standards. Eleven residences line the road, along with several empty lots. The road also leads up to a draw that could become a tunnel of fire under the right wind conditions, with UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center located on the other side of the draw. While removing the old tree addresses one longstanding obstacle, it does not eliminate the road’s other limitations.
Estimates for the tree’s age varied. Jim Gunther, a Cyteworth resident, noted that an increment borer used years ago suggested the tree was about 400 years old, potentially beginning its growth around 1600. Matt Tscholl, owner of Estes Valley Tree Care, estimated the tree to be about 230 years old. While its precise age remains uncertain without a documented tree-ring count, both estimates fall within the known lifespan of ponderosa pines in Colorado, some of which have survived for hundreds of years. Old ponderosas offer significant value, with their thick bark protecting against low-intensity fires, their branches providing wildlife habitat, and their seeds helping sustain future forests. Their growth rings and fire scars also serve as nature’s archive, preserving evidence of drought, environmental change, and wildfire histories.
Historically, many ponderosa pine forests were more open, with periodic low-intensity fires reducing undergrowth and allowing older trees to survive. However, fire suppression, development, and changing land-use patterns have altered this landscape, increasing forest density and wildfire fuels that communities like Estes must address. For Cyteworth Road residents, the immediate concern was whether firefighters could maneuver around the tree if a wildfire threatened life and property.
Matt Tscholl and his crew from Estes Valley Tree Care approached the towering pine limb by limb. Working from an articulating bucket truck, Tscholl began approximately 20 feet above the tree’s base, securing branches with ropes, pulleys, and slings before cutting and lowering them. Crew members below fed branches into a wood chipper as Tscholl ascended higher, gradually dismantling the pine’s silhouette. Once the branches were removed, Tscholl cut the massive trunk into sections, lowering the wood to the ground. What took centuries to grow was disassembled in hours.
Estes Valley Fire Protection District Fire Chief Kevin Nunn, Division Chief Justin Kearney, and Wildfire Risk Reduction Education Specialist Ellis Thompson observed the operation. Chief Nunn requested a 10-foot section of the trunk for potential use in a future fire mitigation project, suggesting a chainsaw sculpture or memorial plaques.
Jim Gunther, who had lived next to the tree for 50 years, walked around the stump the morning after the removal, acknowledging the necessity while grieving the loss. He arranged to salvage a large slab from near the tree’s base. The tree stood for centuries as the world changed around it, witnessing the evolution of the Estes Valley from a mountain landscape to a growing community. Now, for the first time in generations, the passage is safer, though the landscape will never look quite the same. This bittersweet decision illustrates one of the difficult realities of mountain living: sometimes protecting a community means saying goodbye to something irreplaceable.
