SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
By Carolyn Neuhausen
Though data has shown that existing trees do not interfere with the structural and protective integrity of the Bridgeton levees, the Army Corps of Engineers and other governmental bodies have decided to cut 69 out of 131 mature trees in the Bridgeton area.
This is the final chapter in a battle that began in September of 2007, when the Peninsula Drainage District 2 (PEN 2), the federal body in charge of levees for that part of the Columbia, evaluated the levee structures. In the aftermath of the destruction wreaked by faulty levees in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, the government proceeded to investigate levees throughout the country, as previously reported by The Sentinel's Mara Grunbaum.
As part of this project, PEN 2 felt that the poplars, elms and mature cottonwoods that grow near or at the levee could interfere with the levees’ efficiency. They then proceeded to cut down trees.
After filing an injunction and hiring an arborist and lawyer, the Bridgeton Neighborhood Association did all it could to get more information on the effect of trees on levees. Their data showed that there is no proof that trees in close-levee proximity damage levee systems.
Though PEN 2 will cut down an estimated 69 out of 131 existing trees in Bridgeton, officials have pledged to plant around 300 new trees. PEN 2 will most likely start cutting down trees Aug. 24 and 25 at the Columbia Elementary school.
Walter Valenta, a Bridgeton neighborhood activist, said that even though Bridgeton would be gaining more trees, they would be young trees, and lacking the maturity of those cut down. Valenta also proposed an idea for a memorial, where an important mature tree will be cut down, to commemorate the loss of the trees.
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