The fight to save a beloved maple tree in downtown Duncan has ended in tears.

Early Monday morning, the Cowichan Valley Regional District made good on its plan to chop down the tree despite outcry from protesters who vowed to keep the landmark safe.

Cody Bear, who had been fighting for the preservation of the approximately 200-year-old maple tree in the parking lot of the Island Savings Centre, became overwhelmed with emotion when he saw that only a stump and branch remained.

“There’s no difference between having a human being die, you feel the same emotions,” he said. “She’s been a friend, she’s been a great connection to the community.”

Earlier this summer, the CVRD ruled the tree was rotting and a hazard to the public, and must come down.

“It’s really suggestive that the tree probably had even more rot than we could see from the outside,” said CVRD chair Jon Lefebure.

In recent weeks, some protesters defiantly climbed and chained themselves to the tree, while others formed a human barrier around its trunk.

But none of that made a difference Monday. The CVRD said not much could be salvaged from the rotting tree, but declined to say where any remnants had been taken.

“We do have some pieces and the Island Savings Centre Commission will have to make a determination at a future date as to what is done with those pieces,” said John Elzinga, General Manager of Community Services for the CVRD.

Some members of the public have little faith they will be consulted with on what’s left of the tree.

They now vow to keep fighting, saying legal recourse against the district may be a logical next step.

“To see it down now is devastating,” said North Cowichan Councillor Joyce Behnsen. ”To see what was a beautiful tree, which I have so many pictures of now, and to see it replaced by a pile of dirt for no good reason…This is no good reason.”

Meanwhile, the district is pushing forward with its parking lot redevelopment, spending an additional $120,000 on landscaping and promising to plant 33 new trees just steps from where the iconic maple once stood.