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Why One Man Runs a Tree Service That Won’t Cut Down Dead Trees

It’s one of the costliest actions we take in managing our landscapes — in terms of dollars and environmental damage — and yet we keep cutting down and carting away the remains of trees. Even those that pose no danger to people or property.

Basil Camu, a founder of the Leaf & Limb tree-care company in Raleigh, N.C., wants us to rein in that obsessively tidy, controlling mind-set and let the safe ones stand. He believes so strongly in the role of trees — not just the healthy ones, but also snags, or wildlife trees, the dead and dying powerhouses of diversity that are often the first targeted for erasure — that he got out of the takedown business altogether.

Yes, he runs a tree service that doesn’t cut down trees, even dead ones.

His unconventional approach: Let it be.

“Let it participate and help the ecosystem,” Mr. Camu said. “When a tree dies, it enters into its second life, with this incredible new community that builds and thrives around it.”

Think of it as reincarnation (albeit in the same body).

Basil Camu, a founder of the Leaf & Limb tree-care company in Raleigh, N.C., is a champion of trees, from the oldest to the youngest.Credit…Leaf & Limb

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