The pine tree you are referring to has been struggling for some time PRIOR to whoever cut a channel along the root system of that tree. Furthermore, the roots of that tree have been exposed prior to someone cutting the channel AND well before Scott ever appeared on the scene. Cutting a channel though only makes matters worse for that tree now to survive.
If this little pine tree does not survive, it may someday end-up as another source of campfire wood at good old Deep Creek Hot Springs.