Logan • Brandon Elwood sat inside the principal’s office at Wilson Elementary School, where his child attends. He held a photo from Dr. Seuss’ beloved eco-minded book, “The Lorax,” depicting a stump where a Truffula tree had been slashed.
Just around the school’s corner, more than a dozen real-life Norway maples had been chopped down.
“[The photo] greatly resembles the line of stumps that now line our south side of the elementary school here,” Elwood told a group of school leaders, “and it’s really changed the character of the school. That’s irreversible.”
Gone, too, he lamented, is one of the most “beautiful canopies” in Logan’s Island neighborhood.
With a similar threat towering over the century-old trees outside his home on Canyon Road, Elwood has become hyperaware of every tree in his neighborhood. The removal of the maples along 100 South that once provided shade to schoolchildren left him confused and devastated.
“We had the opportunity to wrap our [ash] trees in ribbons,” Elwood said. “...These [maples] didn’t even get a chance. We came home from holiday break, they were gone. There was no warning.”
(Clarissa Casper | The Salt Lake Tribune) The stumps of Norway maples chopped down near Wilson Elementary School in Logan. New trees were planted the next day.
Joining Elwood was Terry Davies, who is leading efforts to save old-growth trees near Providence Elementary School.
“It’s not what the citizens want,” Davies said, “and yet, what’s happening is we don’t have a voice anymore, and we’re being shut down quite a bit. They’re healthy trees.”
Logan’s city forester, Rex Davis, said his crew hadn’t planned to cut down the maples. Knowing school would be out, he decided to send crews to trim them over the holiday break. When arborists assessed the trees’ condition, however, it became clear they had extensive decay on nearly every lateral branch, Davis said, putting them at risk of falling on passersby.
Davis stood behind the removal, noting that new trees were planted the next day.
“Yes, it was a quick decision because it was an easy one,” Davis said. “We could not knowingly leave hazardous trees in an area frequented by children.”
Just a couple of months ago, the trees, sporting their bright orange and yellow hues, formed a natural arch over the entire street, said Logan resident Berit Gibson, who lives across from where the new stumps now sit.
Gibson, who had been visiting family in Norway over the break, returned home to the find trees gone, leaving her heartbroken.
“It feels really sad,” she said. “I hope the other trees don’t get cut down.”
(Clarissa Casper | The Salt Lake Tribune) A new tree recently planted outside Wilson Elementary School in Logan.
Kirk Wilcox, a landscape architect who has lived in the Island neighborhood for nearly 50 years, said the newly planted trees would never create this kind of archway.
“The children that are going to this school won’t see a canopy like that with what they put in there,” said Wilcox, who established The Greenhouse, a business that provides trees to communities throughout the Cache Valley. “...They’re a hodgepodge. They don’t make any sense.”
For its part, the Logan School District noted the trees were on city land.
“The city is not required,” district spokesperson Shana Longhurst said in a statement, “to seek permission from residents or the community for their removal.”
But public engagement is vital, according to Miles Becker, an urban forestry extension specialist and assistant professor at Utah State University, as well as a certified master arborist.
The most effective way for a city to manage its trees while maintaining community support, he said, is through an urban forest management plan.
“Trees on public property belong to the public,” Becker said, “and their long-term management by the city should be a community decision.”
Typical steps for such a plan include creating a tree inventory or canopy assessment, setting preservation goals with public input, outlining strategies and timelines, and drafting codes to define tree regulations and enforcement — all while ensuring space for community involvement.
While this process can be costly, Becker said, it saves money in the long run and helps avoid conflicts.
(Clarissa Casper | The Salt Lake Tribune) A canopy of trees down the street from where more than a dozen were chopped down on 100 South in Logan.
Chelsea Despain, a mother of Wilson Elementary students and an Island neighborhood resident of more than 20 years, bemoaned that the removal happened despite a petition showing more than 4,000 residents care about how Logan manages its trees.
Despain doesn’t think the city necessarily acted improperly in axing hazardous trees — except in its lack of communication.
“The people over there with the Canyon Road trees are probably more affluent to do something about it,” Despain said. “And you get trees over by Wilson … and you’re going to have people in there that are not going to be able to take the time and energy that is needed to fight for their neighborhood.”
A Feb. 4 public hearing is when the Logan City Council is expected to decide on a waterline project that threatens the Canyon Road trees.
