The costly, months-long process of uprooting a 65-foot-tall, 250-year-old tree will culminate later this month as the University of Michigan has set a move day for the history burr oak at the Ross School of Business.

Officials announced today that the relocation of the tree is scheduled to take place Saturday, Oct. 25, weather permitting.

A crew began the $400,000 process of excavating and moving the legacy burr oak tree in July in order to make way for the school's $135 million, donor-funded expansion at the school. The cost was factored into the overall cost of the project before it was approved by the Board of Regents.

The plan is to move it from its place in a courtyard at the north side of the Ross complex, facing the School of Education, to a lawn area off Tappan Street, just outside the main entrance of the complex less than 100 yards away.

A crew from Environmental Design, a Texas-based company that specializes in transplanting large trees, will return to campus this week to prepare the tree for its short move to a new location along Tappan Street.

"There will be a lot of activity on site the first few days," Paul Cox, vice president of Environmental Design, said in a statement.

University officials explained that the first step in the process for the transplant crew will be the process of unearthing the root ball and digging under the pipes located beneath the tree.

The pipes, which were inserted earlier this summer, help create a platform for the tree and four feet of earth that will be moved with the tree.

"Once the root ball is exposed, it will look like a tree in the middle of a birthday cake," Cox said.

The transplant crew will then begin additional site work, including trimming of adjacent trees, the temporary removal of smaller trees in the path of the move and the digging the hole at the new location. They will also create a ramp up to the nearby walkway.

On the day of the move, the crew will insert giant rubber air bladders beneath the pipes and inflate them to lift the tree with the four feet of earth, which has an estimated weight of nearly three-quarters of 1 million pounds.

Two transporters designed to move extremely heavy objects will then move the tree down Monroe Mall to the front of the Ross building.

"The transporter has approximately 100 wheels, which all operate independently. This gives us the flexibility to turn the tree as many different directions as needed to safely relocate the tree," Cox said.

"We expect the process of relocating the tree to take all day Saturday, again, weather permitting."

When the tree is at the new location, the giant air bladders will be inserted back under the tree and lifted off the transporter and rolled into place. The air bladders will be slowly deflated and removed.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in a prior interview that consultants who have visited the campus estimate the tree would have a 70- to 80-percent chance of survival when it's replanted.

Temporary fencing will be installed before the tree relocation. University officials said the community is welcome to observe the move but will need to remain behind the fenced area.