Mother Chains Herself To 80-Year-Old Oak Tree To Prevent It From Being Cut Down

A Long Island mother has chained herself to a tree to save it from being cut down.

Six days and counting, that’s how long Denise Casares had been taking a stand against the authorities of Westbury village to prevent the planned removal of a large Oak tree.

The tree is not technically on her property but for years it had been in front of the house her grandparents built in the 1950s.

Casares says the tree is a part of her history.

"I'm saving the tree. It has been in my family for four generations," Casares told CBS News.

The 80-year-old big Oak is marked for removal in a road-resurfacing project.

"I came running out the door like a crazy person and said, 'What are you doing?' He made a motion like it's coming down and I said, 'No, it's not,'" Casares said.

She remains chained to the tree 10 hours per day to make sure it's protected.

"It means something to me. I don't want to lose something else that has been part of my family the entire lifetime that my family has been here, and I feel like there is just a total disregard," Casares said.

"I'm gonna have to get arrested. I'll get arrested. I gotta do what's right for my family and what's right for people in this community," she said.

The mother and Girl Scout leader said she wants to be a role model to her kids and teach them to stand up for their principles.

"I told my husband this tree is like family, I'm chaining myself to the tree, putting signs up, my kids are all home this week for spring break, and this is what we're going to do. They tell me the tree can stay," says Casares.

"If a tree is unhealthy and unsafe, I understand that, but to take a perfectly healthy tree and just take it down like it's nothing, I don't understand," she said.

"I'm very proud of her. It's a very courageous thing to do," her daughter Madison said.

Westbury Mayor Pete Cavallaro said the village does not insouciantly take down healthy trees.

"We understand the value of these old growth trees," Cavallaro said.

The concern seems to be with the root of the tree, which is protruding about an inch or so into the roadway.

"This is a necessary evil that sometimes you have to take down healthy trees. We don't dispute that the tree is healthy. We don't want to take down a tree that isn't in need of being taken down," Cavallaro said.

The village said it will reassess the issue to see if the tree can be saved, but the mayor says trimming the roots is not feasible.

"Sometimes you can get away by cutting some of the roots at the curb line," Cavallaro told News 12. "If you do too much of that, you may compromise the tree and that would not be a good thing from a safety standpoint."

For every tree that's being cut down, another one is being planted, the mayor said.

"Trees supposed to give us better air. Birds use it. It's a beautiful tree," neighbor Phil Alfieri said.

Casares says she will wait until she gets some answers and hopes something can be done to save the big oak.