The City of Yorba Linda, California, is planning on cutting down and replacing a number of 40-year-old pine trees due to safety concerns—however some residents are against it.
According to city spokesperson Geoff Spencer, the city’s Public Works Department—which inspects the health of over 23,000 trees in the city—recently identified trees that are a potential safety risk due to their size, age, shallow roots, and location.
“We understand our community’s concerns about this project,” Spencer told The Epoch Times via email. “But we have also received messages of support from neighbors who are concerned about trees potentially falling onto their property and putting their families at risk.”
Three large trees have fallen onto Fairmont Boulevard in the last two years, thankfully without any public harm, he said.
Spencer also confirmed a resident near the trees reached out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop the city from cutting down one of the trees that had an owl’s nest in it.
It is illegal to destroy a bird’s nest or eggs, including the trees they are found in, according to the Fish and Game Code.
The city would have found the nest, Spencer claimed, and would have stopped any work within 500 feet of the tree after their own inspection for nesting birds, which had not been completed yet.
The city is planning to move forward with removing the remaining trees that pose a risk next week, he said.
The trees will not be completely gone, said Spencer, since the city will plant replacement trees in the same locations shortly after the others are removed.
