By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

Buffalo's second-oldest law firm is helping keep the city's second-oldest tree alive.

Magavern Magavern & Grimm LLP, founded in 1826, came to the rescue of an ailing sycamore tree estimated to be between 180 and 250 years old.

The 75-inch-wide sycamore has a canopy that spans both sides of Franklin Street and is something of a legend in Buffalo. In 1828, when it was perhaps a seedling, the city was called Buffalo Village, the Erie Canal was three years old and John Quincy Adams was in his final year in office.

"This living giant is about 200 years old, which means it was a sapling when our law firm's founding fathers were starting our firm," said partner Richard Grimm III. "It was kind of a fun coincidence."

When the firm heard about the tree, which stands in front of 404 Franklin St., having contracted a deadly defoliating fungus called anthracnose, it committed to pay $1,500 for its treatment: an infusion of fertilizer, followed by an antifungal application.

The attention, administered a month ago, appears to be a success, said Paul Mauer, chairman and cofounder of Re-Tree WNY.

"It was literally a relief when the leaves sprouted," he said.

The nonprofit organization was founded by Mauer, along with Watson Bennett Colligan Johnson & Schechter LLP partner David Colligan, after a surprise snowstorm hit the Buffalo area in October 2006, doing irreparable damage to thousands of trees.

Mauer said that even though the nonprofit's mission is reforesting, Re-Tree was prepared to do "whatever we could to ensure its best hope for survival," and spearheaded the tree's triage until Grimm contacted Mauer.

"We didn't want to see them using their money to do it, so we offered to step in," Grimm said.

The tree is likely to have survived for so long due to an underground aquifer that is feeding it, Mauer explained.

"It is remarkable, when you think of the adverse conditions - the establishment and paving of Franklin Street, installation of sidewalks, foundations of houses that were dug into its roots, salt spray, plowing, ice storms - that this hardy sycamore survived under for the two centuries," City of Buffalo Forester Jeff Brett said in a prepared statement.

Grimm said the firm is "thrilled" to help save the tree.

"The people in the firm have had a strong connection to the city for so long that this just seemed like a natural tie-in for us," he said. "We're as happy to do it as the tree is to get the treatment."

The city's oldest tree is believed to be a Delaware Park oak that sustained some damage during the October Storm.

If that tree should ever get sick, perhaps Buffalo's oldest law firm, Hogdson Russ LLP, founded in 1817, will cover its get-well costs.

For more information, see www.re-treewny.org.