Wednesday’s top of the scroll: Army Corps orders thousands of trees chopped down on levees nationwide

From the Sacramento Bee:

The Army Corps of Engineers is on a mission to chop down every tree in the country that grows within 15 feet of a levee – including oaks and sycamores in Louisiana, willows in Oklahoma and cottonwoods in California. The corps is concerned that the trees’ roots could undermine barriers meant to protect low-lying communities from catastrophic floods like the ones caused by Hurricane Katrina.

An Associated Press survey of levee projects nationwide shows that the agency wants to eliminate all trees along more than 100,000 miles of levees. But environmentalists and some civil engineers insist the trees pose little or no risk and actually help stabilize levee soil.

Thousands of trees have been felled already, though corps officials did not have a precise number of how many will be cut.

The corps has “this body of decades of experience that says you shouldn’t have trees on your levees,” said Eric Halpin, the agency’s special assistant for dam and levee safety.

The saws are buzzing despite the outcry from people who say the trees are an essential part of fragile river and wetland ecosystems. “The literature on the presence of vegetation indicates that it may actually strengthen a levee,” said Andrew Levesque, senior engineer for King County, Wash., where the corps wants trees removed on the six rivers considered vital to salmon populations.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

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