"Nobody tries to save a tree this badly burned..."
Meher Mount
Your Friday photo...
This week (December 4th) is the seven-year anniversary of the 2017 Thomas Fire that struck Meher Mount — and in particular Baba’s Tree. At the time, it was the largest wildfire in California history.
This photo of Baba’s Tree was taken former caretaker Buzz Glasky just days after the Thomas Fire swept through Meher Mount.
“Nobody tries to save a tree this badly burned...”
On the night of December 4, 2017, high winds toppled the giant canopy of Baba’s Tree and fire burned the trunk and limbs.
Baba’s Tree was shattered. The trunk was a hollowed-out shell. There were only a couple of inches of actual live wood. There was a hole in the tree’s trunk that was three or four feet wide. You could walk right into the middle of the trunk — or what had been the trunk.
We saw people come to the tree and weep. We knew we had to do everything humanly possible to help the tree recover. That's when we reached out to ISA® Certified Arborist Michael Inaba just a few weeks after the fire.
He came up with plan — watering, mulch, covering the limbs to protect them from sunburn, putting the tree in isolation (as you would a very ill patient), and spraying non-pesticide clay, and steel props to hold up the burned limbs.
“But…,” Inaba said, “Nobody tries to save a tree this badly burned.”
And then he asked, “If we don’t save the tree, what will the community think?”
All along, all we could do was our best — and leave the results to Meher Baba.
~ Margaret Magnus, Communications Director
The Documentary on Baba’s Tree — COMING LATE SPRING
The story of Baba’s Tree begs to be told on film. It’s the journey of a seemingly ordinary oak tree blessed by the presence of the Avatar of the Age, Meher Baba.
For decades, Baba’s Tree fulfills its role of inspiring others — drawing seekers from around the world in search of inspiration, silence, joy and solace.
Then one night Baba’s Tree is felled by fire and high winds. Its very existence is threatened. Through the tree’s own resilience and love, it is transformed by fire to emerge even more powerful in radiating Meher Baba’s love.