Nevada's famous shoe tree chopped down by vandals

[ElizabethMT]

I was saddened to learn about the demise of this tree. I came upon a shoe tree in rural Idaho and LOVED it!! Out in the middle of nowhere-it was a great treat. Not sure I can consider it vandalism to hang shoes in a tree---more like outsider art.
Elizabeth

[AlmostThere]

Tina, you bring up a good point. What is art to some, is vandalism to others. Is it natural for a "living" tree to have hundreds of pounds of shoes tied to it's limbs just for our amusement? Who's to say that it wasn't effecting it's life in some way? Just thinking outloud.....

[BarbaraRose]

It didn't seem to be adversely affecting the tree, and it was out a ways from public areas. I think cutting it down was extreme and also a far more serious form of vandelism than the shoes, themselves. The shoes could have been removed if it was an issue in that area. Since no one out there seemed to mind, I don't think it was really a serious vandelism issue to the locals (well, maybe to the one's who cut it down!). I think if it brought more joy and humor than negative reactions, than it was OK. Too bad someone had to go to such an extreme to remove it! Very thoughtless and sad (especially for a nice tree, which for those tree-huggers out there, probably loved all the attention!).

[Liz]

The tree was far away from any populated area, and was just about the only tree that large for miles and miles. It's the loss of the tree more than the shoe legend that is the greater shame.