- More than a dozen mature trees at Trolley Square were cut down.
- Salt Lake City cited declining health as the reason for tree removal.
- New ginkgo and honey locust trees will replace them in coming weeks.
SALT LAKE CITY — Residents and customers were surprised and saddened to find that more than a dozen mature trees lining the entrance of Trolley Square were cut down last week.
Stumps were all that remained along 700 East by Saturday morning.
"What a shame," members of the East Central Community Council wrote on Facebook. "A mature tree is not just landscaping — it is public infrastructure."
Others responded, calling it "upsetting" and "heartbreaking," with some saying they would avoid shopping at the mall in response.
A representative of Trolley Square declined to speak to KSL about the decision on Friday, instead referring to Salt Lake City's Urban Forestry Division.
In a statement, the city said the trees — mature London plane trees — had been in declining health, prompting the decision to cut them down along 700 East. Several other trees in the area are suffering from the same issues that will require removal, which could come as early as later this year.
The plan is to replace the outgoing trees with new ginkgo and honey locust trees, as part of a new landscape that will begin in the coming weeks. Both species are known for being more adaptable and less disease-prone than London planes.
"The city proactively partnered with Trolley Square management on a new landscape plan to replace them with 18 new trees, along with added shrubs, flowers and safety improvements," said Andrew Wittenberg, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office. "Trolley Square will also pay a mitigation fee to offset the temporary loss of tree canopy, funding additional tree plantings in other parts of the city."
The decision comes after other London planes — a part-sycamore hybrid — in the city have endured challenges. City leaders agreed to spend $150,000 last year toward a program to treat sycamore-type trees stressed primarily by a fungal disease called anthracnose, as well as bug infestations and mildew.
Salt Lake City was home to approximately 4,600 sycamore-related trees at the time, and the Urban Forestry Division estimated that similar allocations would be needed over the next three to five years to help combat the problem.
Most of the East Central Community Council's concerns came from the benefits of trees. Mature trees — even in urban settings — can help pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, improve stormwater runoff and improve biodiversity, the Arbor Day Foundation points out.
It wasn't immediately clear how old all of the removed trees were, but Trolley Square had preserved several trees during its expansion almost two decades ago. They worked with arborists in 2009 to save as many as possible, with some transported and some new trees planted at the time. By that point, some of its trees were over 30 years old.
