City of Vancouver removes large trees to extend trail, angering residents
May 1-Residents along Old Evergreen Highway were shocked and saddened to see dozens of large, older-growth trees cut down in their neighborhood recently.
The city of Vancouver removed the trees to extend the Evergreen Trail west of the Columbia Springs environmental education center.
"If you look at other places that they have put the trail in, they have preserved trees that are 5 feet from the roadway. Here, we had one that was 17 1/2 feet from the roadway, and it was still removed," said resident Dana Coffee, who lives near the Jane Weber Evergreen Arboretum.
Before installing a new walking trail along the south side of Old Evergreen Highway, city crews have been removing trees along a 1-mile stretch between Southeast Chelsea Avenue and Southeast Image Road. The trail will include a pervious concrete pathway, retaining walls, privacy fencing and stormwater infrastructure improvements.
"The tree removal was necessary to allow for construction of retaining walls and a 10-foot-wide sidewalk," Nicole Walters, spokeswoman for the city, said by email. "The project is anticipated to be completed by the end of this year."
Along with stunning views of the Columbia River, Coffee said, the neighborhood is known for its diverse and plentiful tree canopy - from western red cedar and Douglas firs to Sitka spruce and coast redwoods. She said the "tree massacre" simply makes no sense, especially given the city's focus on urban forests, Heritage Tree program and commitment to growing the tree canopy.
Cutting the trees down during the spring, when birds and small animals often nest in them, will lead to a loss of habitat and wildlife, Coffee said.
Instead of a 10-foot-wide sidewalk, Coffee said, a 5-foot-wide or 8-foot-wide sidewalk, similar to ones used along other parts of the trail, would be a better fit. She said other parts of the trail not only are narrower but have diverted the path around trees to preserve them.
"We could accommodate a lot more trees at 8 feet," she said. "Frankly, it would have been a lot better just going on the other side of the highway, where there's no trees and the city owns the property."
Walters said an environmental review of the project did not flag nesting birds as a concern. She said the city's urban forester, Charles Ray, also reviewed the overall health of the trees in the project area and recommended removing those that could pose a problem later.
John Woolley, caretaker for the arboretum, said he wants to know if similar work is planned for the arboretum's property.
"I can only speak for me, personally, ... but I'm curious as to how it's going to affect the further progress when they connect the trail to the finishing point. Are they going to be taking out trees further along?" Woolley said. "Looking at the space they've already taken to do the existing installation, if you follow that line of sight all the way down in front of our property, it's going to be quite a big change."
Like Coffee, Woolley said the city has previously taken steps to preserve certain trees and he hopes that will still be an option.
Ray said working with individual landowners is a key component of managing the city's urban forest. His department maintains an inventory of trees in parks, along streets and in other areas of the city, and it evaluates trees prior to roadwork.
The city plants around 2,000 new trees each year, Ray said.
Coffee is lobbying the city to replant some of the trees it removed once the trail work is finished, even if it won't resolve the more immediate issues like the loss of wildlife habitat.
"Some people can wait 30 years, but that's not going to ensure that habitat comes back," she said. "The thing right now is to raise awareness. ... It's really important to these citizens."
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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