On a chilly October morning in Irvington, Samuel Martinez watches above as Reggie Copes swiftly moves through the branches of a giant bur oak tree with a chainsaw.
“Clear!” Martinez shouts before Copes revs the saw and a branch comes crashing down.
The pair are checking the Kile Oak for diseases and assessing damage caused by the hurricane remnants that stormed through Indianapolis in September. At an estimated 450 years old and more than 85 feet tall, the tree in Irvington is a central part of the eastside neighborhood’s identity.
“It’s a dinosaur,” said Martinez, a 33-year-old arborist. “A lot of trees don’t make it that far.”
Experts say it is rare to find a tree as old — and as healthy — as the Kile Oak in large metropolitan cities like Indianapolis, where trees are often cleared out for development or die from disease. Work has been done to the tree over the years as needed. But now, a group of arborists have decided to create an organized board to ensure the tree sticks around for future generations.
“If you want future generations to enjoy the things of today and yesterday, we have to preserve them,” Martinez said. “And if you don’t preserve them with intention, then they just disappear.”
A permanent part of Irvington
The Irvington community has worked to protect the Kile Oak for decades.
The Rev. Oliver Kile purchased the Beechwood Avenue property where the tree is located in the early 1900s. After his death, his daughter Mae Kile sought to protect the tree before the Irvington Historic Landmarks Foundation acquired the land in 1973.
“It draws a lot of attention from the people who live near it,” said Chad Cerda with the foundation. “They want to come visit it. It’s a part of their life.”
Some folks mark milestones under the oak’s branches. Blade Hauth and his husband were together for 18 years before they decided to get married under the Kile Oak. The couple married in December 2016. Hauth said that day, the tree was bare but powerful.
“Just mighty,” he said. “You just felt like you were being enveloped by the tree itself.”
The tree became a symbol for the longtime Irvington couple’s relationship.
“Talk about permanence: It predates all of us and teaches us life goes on no matter what we do,” Hauth said. “We ought to preserve and learn from it, and hopefully the tree will outlive all of us too.”
Cerda and the rest of the Irvington Historic Landmarks Foundation agrees.
“One of the things that we decided at the beginning of the year is we really need to take this preservation thing seriously,” Cerda said.
Hence the creation of the tree board, which will oversee preservation efforts for the tree.
“These arborists are very giddy, because as they pointed out, this is a unique tree,” Cerda said. “They’re really excited about the opportunity to get up into the branches and communicate with something that large and ancient.”
Arborists like Samuel Martinez, who jumped at the chance to work with the Kile Oak.
How the board plans to protect Kile Oak
He said trees are like humans. When trees get older, their healing slows down. But even at 450 years old, he said the Kile Oak still has plenty of vigor. The plan is to touch the tree as little as possible.
“For the most part, trees should be able to be self-sufficient and not need to be coddled by humans,” Martinez said. “But it’s when humans are around them that they start needing help.”
He said humans tend to inadvertently damage trees — compacting the soil and pruning too much or not in the right places.
Even before the September storm caused damage, members of the new tree board were putting plans in place to better protect the property, including adding mulch to protect roots and examining the cables placed decades ago to support the tree’s heavy limbs.
The property is open to the public, but after the storm a decision was made to temporarily close the entrance out of safety. The gates were opened back up after the damaged branches were removed.
Making a difference for future generations
Martinez is one of the youngest out of the handful of arborists that make up the board. He said several of the arborists have tended to the Kile Oak over the years, some as far back as the 1970s.
“Fifty years from now, I could be the last one, looking after this tree,” he said.
But Martinez doesn’t want that. He has plans that go beyond just protecting the tree; he wants to get the younger generation involved.
In lieu of payment, Martinez asked Irvington Historic Landmarks Foundation to donate money to pay for climbing equipment so kids can learn to safely climb and learn about trees. The foundation will decide how much to donate later this year.
Martinez also envisions more educational programs and other community engagement opportunities. He thinks back to his time as a kid and wishes he had more opportunities to learn about arboriculture.
“They’re all just dreams and ideas for showing kids what’s possible,” he said. “I get to climb and care for trees. I didn’t know any of this was possible.”
For now, the focus is ensuring the tree is safe.
“But if we do this right, we could really make a difference,” he said.
Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian.
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