Expert: Burned Toomer’s Oak may experience ‘aesthetic death’ that makes removal necessary

AUBURN, Ala. — After a stunning last-second victory against the LSU Tigers on Saturday, one of the famous Toomer’s Corner oak trees caught fire around midnight. The Auburn Fire Division extinguished the blaze within minutes, and the University’s police division arrested 29 year-old Jochen Wiest for “desecration of a venerable object” the next day.

AU police received video evidence of a man, believed to be Wiest, setting the toilet paper hanging from the oak on fire. A woman in the video confronted the suspect, forcing him to flee the scene.

The alleged culprit is currently held in jail on $1,500 bond, with an additional charge of public intoxication.

With a suspect in custody, experts in the field of horticulture have called into question the future of the tree.

Auburn’s student newspaper The Plainsman interviewed Professor Gary Keever, who teaches horticulture on campus. He came to the conclusion that the oak is not dead, but it will likely suffer from “aesthetic death.”

“Based on the initial appearance of the tree, I don’t think the fire has killed the tree,” Keever told The Plainsman. “However, aesthetic death, when the tree declines to such an extent that it detracts from the landscape and there is little chance of it returning to its full grandeur, may warrant consideration of removal as a result of this act.”

Keever noted that many of the leaves in the upper portion of the oak have become discolored and will fall off in the upcoming weeks.

“What we’re hoping, best case scenario, is that next spring we’re going to see a vigorous flush and the trees will re-foliate and then we’ll continue on trying to do our best to ensure the well-being of the trees,” Keever told Al.com.

This is not the first time that the Toomer’s oaks have been attacked. In 2010, Harvey Updyke infamously poisoned the trees after Cam Newton’s Auburn Tigers came back to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide 28-27. Updyke pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage of an agricultural facility, a Class-C felony, and was sentenced to 6 months in jail.

After the dramatic damage, Auburn removed the original Oaks and replaced them with new trees in 2015. The first rolling of the new oaks occurred after Auburn’s victory over Arkansas State earlier this season.