Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
June 10, 2009
1. Top Item–
Army Corps orders thousands of trees chopped down
Sacramento
By Cain Burdeau
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
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
The anti-tree policy arose from criticism directed at the corps after Katrina breached levees in
In 2006, the corps began sending hundreds of letters to levee districts across the nation, ordering them to cut down "unwanted woody vegetation," a prospect that could cost many of the districts millions of dollars each in timber-clearing expenses.
Inspectors began an inventory of the levee system and told districts to fill in animal burrows, repair culverts and patch up erosion.
If they fail to comply, the agencies risk higher flood insurance premiums and a loss of federal funding.
"The corps' new edict was regarded as a major change in policy," said Ronald Stork, senior policy expert with California Friends of the River in
"Something that is cheap and inexpensive is a chain saw. It was something to do that didn't cost a lot of money that made you feel better."
Last summer, the cutting crews came to
The plantation is surrounded by sycamores, live oaks, elms, pines, cedars, magnolias and crepe myrtles. Hundreds of trees grow within 15 feet of the levee. In theory, they would all have to go.
But after months of negotiations with landowners and the Tensas Basin Levee District, the corps agreed to let the district chop down only a few dozen trees on the levee.
"We don't know how long the trees have been here, but they've never caused any problem up until now," said Hugh Youngblood, 61, whose ancestors came to Breston in the 1800s.
On a recent afternoon, his son, who is also named Breston, was upset as he walked the levee, pointing to a heap of limbs.
"They didn't even find a buyer for the wood or the pulp," the son said.
In 2007, the corps sought to clear oaks, cottonwoods, willows and other vegetation from 1,600 miles of levees in
The corps eventually dropped the idea.
In a neighborhood north of
Experts outside the corps say a tree has never caused a
"If trees are a problem, why aren't we having problems with them?" said George Sills, who formerly worked for the corps' Engineer Research and
In a March 2008 e-mail, Sills told the corps to remove his name from an updated vegetation policy paper he worked on for the corps. He said he ran analyses for the corps "that looked at the possibility that the trees caused any of the (levee) failures in
Corps officials see it differently.
Halpin, the corps' dam and levee expert, said the agency does not know whether a tree has ever directly caused a levee failure. But he noted that dam failures have been linked to trees, including a 1970s collapse in
The corps also wants to get rid of trees for safety reasons. A treeless levee is easier to inspect and repair during a flood.
But none of that washes with local authorities whose levees are being targeted by the corps.
"This is something they've dreamed up. It's like they're hell-bent to write up some negative reports," said Frank Keith, levee commissioner of the Tulsa County Drainage District in
Some 230 miles of levees in Keith's district got an "unacceptable rating" in December 2007, and the district faced losing its federal accreditation in part because of tree growth. The district is working with landowners to cut trees and fix other problems the corps found with its levees.
The carping frustrates Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, a group based in
"If you're going to have a levee, you have to be able to maintain a levee and make it safe," Larson said.
Others are skeptical.
In
"They don't care if that's good science," resident Walter Valenta said. "It is their policy."#
http://www.sacbee.com/827/story/1932529-p2.html
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