Urbana Park District completes tree sculpture to preserve urban wildlife

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - The Urbana Park District was recently awarded funds from the Urbana Arts Grant to bring a 150-year-old oak tree back to life.

Environmental Program Manager Savannah Donavon said there were originally three oak trees, but Mother Nature had other plans.

“One is still living and standing. One just fell over in our recent storms and the last, is the third, is the one that was standing and dead, so we call a standing dead tree a tree snag. That’s the one that was sculpted into this work of art,” said Donovan.

A tree-carving artist came out from Naperville to carve the 150-year-old tree. The artwork displays urban wildlife that lives around us every day.

“We wanted to focus on native wildlife. So, animals that you can see around here. The sculpture has some barred owls, we have lots of barred owls in Champaign-Urbana," explained Donovan. "It has raccoon, possum, fox.”

According to Donovan, this is important because dead trees can still bring many benefits to wildlife.

"It’s important that we do we have dead trees. Standing dead trees and fallen dead trees provide a lot of habitat and food for wildlife, and it is all part of a life cycle," said Donovan. "Those trees are going to degrade, they’re going to become new soil again, and the cycle repeats itself.”