It's been a bad few weeks for trees in Sandpoint

About 7:30 a.m. on Memorial Day I was awakened by the sound of chainsaws. I'm pretty passionate about trees and suspecting Renova (LP property where two willows were whacked two weeks ago) was cutting down the last remaining tree, I left home to follow the noise.

It turned out the chainsaws were busy instead at 304 Larch, where Jacobsen Tree Service was limbing up two trees with two more waiting in the wings. According to a neighbor, the owner of the property had been required to replace sidewalks damaged by the tree roots, and to guarantee he didn't have that cost again, he was removing the trees.

The neighbor told me an interesting story about the willows on the LP site. His father was the contractor who took down the old Humbird Mill houses. As a part of his contract, he was specifically instructed not to remove the willows. We all know they were separated off from the property by a chain link fence ' I would assume for the purpose of protecting them from activity on the property.

How interesting that such preservation measures were taken out of respect for the trees and the residents' love of trees only to be whacked by a distant developer with no sense of the history or impact on the town.

I guess my dilemma is weighing the value of trees versus the value of sidewalks. What are we setting up for the future of our lovely treed town by this emphasis on sidewalks? Isn't there some middle ground (or a different way of financing them) that doesn't cause homeowners to act out of frustration and feared future expenses? There's got to be a better way of doing business than this.

CARRIE LOGAN

Sandpoint