nature
The felled Sycamore Gap tree is sprouting again
Two men cut it down in the dark. The roots had other plans.
The stump of England's Sycamore Gap tree is sprouting again, three years after two men cut it down with a chainsaw in the dark. Leafy shoots now stand two to three feet tall, forming a thick ring around the fenced base near Hadrian's Wall in northern England. Andrew Poad, general manager for the National Trust at Hadrian's Wall, says he is "filled with hope by the way nature is taking its course." Rangers reduced soil compaction around the roots and limited human disturbance to give the stump, as Poad puts it, "the best possible chance to thrive." The tree stood for at least a century, appeared in a 1991 Robin Hood film, and was named English tree of the year in 2016. Officials also grew 49 saplings from its seeds, one for each foot of its final height, and sent them to communities across the UK. Recovery will take years. The shoots are not waiting.
