"Marty B." wrote:

Silver maple is a garbage tree. Why you would want to save the
thing is beyond comprehension.

I have lots of trees in my large back yard, and this tree is near my
back fence, it's about 30 feet tall, and provides privacy between me and
the apartment building across the street behind me.

If I could go to a big-box building store or nursery and bring home a 20
or 30 foot mature tree of my choice and plant it exactly where I wanted
it, like I can do with a flag pole or a mail box, then sure we'd all be
doing that.

But trees don't grow on trees (so to speak). We can put up skyscrapers
in only a year or two, but it takes decades for a tree to grow to the
size that you want them to be. Until we can easily replace mature trees
with other mature trees in a few hours or days, I don't think I'm going
to be cutting mine down because it's not exactly the tree I might want
in a given location.

If you ask me, we need more trees and fewer people on this god-damn
planet.