Reports about the state of an iconic cherry tree at East Potomac Park in , gifted to the United States by Japan in 1912, have raised alarm.
Save East Potomac, a watchdog group, first flagged that the Trump administration has torn down an iconic cherry tree at near the 14th green of the Blue Course of the East Potomac Golf Links at East Potomac Park. and local news portal City Cast DC picked up the story.
According to the WaPo report, Trump is seeking to build a golf course on a man-made island on the Potomac River that would be capable of hosting PGA events. The cherry blossom tree was felled by the Trump administration along with at least 60 other trees, purportedly to make way for the expansion of Potomac Golf Links, it added.
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How Many Cherry Trees Were Felled To Expand Potomac Golf Links?
The Washington Post reported that the iconic near the 14th green of the Blue Course, part of a grove of the Japanese-gifted trees near the southern end of the Hains Point, was felled. It was not clear if the remaining trees in the Hains Point grove were affected, even as watchdogs raised alarm about the expansion potentially cutting into the footprint of cherry trees.
The WaPo report claimed, based on an “informal count”, that more than 60 trees were removed in the last few weeks. Most of the removed trees were “around the perimeter and parking lot”, but several from the Blue, Red and White courses were also felled. Among them were also “two large sycamores” near the cherry tree at the 14th green, the report added.
The cherry blossom treems at East Potomac are part of over 3,000 trees Japan brought to the US as a sign of friendship between the two nations. They were planted there between 1913 and 1920, according to the
Many of them have been destroyed by over the years, including when the flood wall was built on the Tidal Basin.
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What Trump Administration Has Said About The Tree Cutting
The Washington Post reached out to the about the tree cutting ongoing in East Potomac. They have said that the cuttings are part of regular maintenance work at the golf course.
“Arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees, and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention,” a spokesperson told WaPo in a statement.
“Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining or hazardous, our arborists may make the decision to remove it.”
