permaculture

["Ava Devenport" <essenheal@iname.com>]

Dear Mikal:

I'm so sorry to hear the news about your tree, what a hateful thing to do!

You can use pine pitch to coat the inside of the gash, this will act as a 
'band-aid' while also killing any bacteria that may have gotten in, you can 
also still graft twigs into the gash, they should be able to take hold if 
you get to it quickly enough, still use the pine pitch, it will help to 
'glue' the grafts in place also.  Then continue with a regular course of 
first-aid, just as you would with any wound.  Wrap it with a good surgical 
gauze and top that off with a layer of water-proof adhesive surgical tape.
If you have any small limbs that you can trim from the tree, remove the 
bark, place the tree material into the remaining gash, you may have to 
trim/cut it to fit, and continue with the wrapping.  The tree itself will 
send out sap to fill in any additional spaces and cement it all together.

I would consider, also, developing a very pleasant looking sign regarding 
No Trespassing/Posted/No Wildcrafting, along the lines of stating the land 
is being stewarded to promote rehabilitation, etc.  This should at least 
give you a little legal protection from vandals, as you would then have the 
option of filing a warrant in the event these ignorant people find any 
additional 'humor' in destruction.

Blessings,
Ava