L.A. axing 400 trees for shuttle Endeavour's final trip

[morningfog]

Los Angeles is cutting down about 400 mature trees to accommodate the space shuttle Endeavour as it travels 12 miles of streets to its final home next month, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In addition to tree removal, crews will prune other trees, raise power lines and remove traffic signals so the five-story, 78-foot-wide shuttle can make its way from Los Angeles International Airport to the California Science Center. The trip begins Oct. 12 and ends the night of Oct. 13.

Although the science center has vowed to plant twice as many replacements -- the exact number to be cut down is not yet final -- some residents say the saplings won't compare to the doomed mature trees, which include magnolias among the 265 targeted in South L.A. Inglewood will lose 128 trees, including pine and ficus.

"They are cutting down these really big, majestic trees," Lark Galloway-Gilliam, a longtime Leimert Park resident and neighborhood council director, told the Times. "It will be beyond my lifetime before they will be tall like this again."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/09/la-axing-400-trees-for-shuttle-endeavours-final-trip-/1#.UEarFqPwRFs

[kestrel91316]

1. They will be replanting more than that. And repairing sidewalks that badly need it. And lots

of landscaping along the route. I just hope they replant fairly large trees and not teeny saplings.

[Major Nikon]

4. Long term it's probably better if they plant saplings

The bigger the tree is, the more transplant shock you have which can stunt tree growth for many years, assuming the tree lives at all. Smaller plantings don't suffer as much transplant shock and are more likely to survive.

I built my home 12 years ago and it went up around the same time as most of my neighbors. I planted no trees that were larger than 1 gallon. Meanwhile my neighbors were planting relatively huge trees with 2-3" caliper. In just a few years, my trees were the biggest ones in the neighborhood and still are.

[tjwash]

2. They can send some of that firewood my way...

...I hate having to dish out a couple hunny for a cord every winter.

The sidewalks in the area are all kind of jacked up because those trees have gotten so big and out of control, so they will finally get some much needed repairs and maintenance.

[msongs]

3. good riddance to ficus trees, they are a mess and nuisance nt