A new look at Linduska Field this fall comes with some relief and a bit of sadness.
First, the relief. The stadium lights have been replaced with galvanized steel poles set on a precast concrete base. Musco Lighting of Oskaloosa put up the new poles in July.
School officials will no longer worry during windy events, as the 40-year-old wooden poles swayed in a stiff wind. “My major fear is that those wooden poles are going to come crashing down some day. If we don’t have kids there it would be a blessing, but if we do, it would be a disaster,” school superintendent Brett Abbotts said as the school board approved the purchase at its April meeting.
New lights atop the poles will be LCD lights with Musco’s Show-Light® feature that allows them to flash in computer-controlled patterns and sequences.
Second, the sadness. The Norman Rockwell-esque view across the playing field with a backdrop of autumn gold trees behind the visitors’ stands is gone. The trees, all of them ash trees, died at the mouths of emerald ash borers. The trees at Allensworth field met the same fate. “It really is depressing watching one tree after the other come down. They really did set a nice landscape for the baseball field,” Abbotts said.
School staff is removing about 125 trees over the next 2-3 years, he said. Informal quotes for removal ranged from $750 to $1,500 per tree. With that looming cost, the district instead purchased a new truck, dump trailer, some chainsaws, a skid loader, and various attachments, including a grapple claw and stump grinder. Most of the purchases were paid for out the school’s PPEL (physical plant and equipment levy) fund.
The district will hire a tree removal company to take down a few near the middle school that are overhanging the roof, Abbotts said.
The district plans to replace some of the trees, but it will take decades to provide the view to which Ram fans are accustomed.
The Jefferson city crew has removed 450 dead ash trees on city-owned property, with another 150 still to go. The next step for the city is to contract with a company to remove dead trees on privately-owned property. That step won’t happen soon, city administrator Scott Peterson has said.
