- The Utah Department of Transportation paused a tree removal project in Ephraim after community concerns.
- The project aimed to remove 60 trees for safety, but faced historic value issues.
- UDOT is reviewing the environmental impacts and the trees' historic significance before deciding on future actions.
EPHRAIM — The Utah Department of Transportation said Thursday it was pausing a maintenance project to remove roughly 60 trees following concerns raised by community members over the historic value of the trees to the neighborhood.
Road crews had planned to take out roughly 60 trees between 300 North and 600 North on the west side of Main Street due to safety concerns, according to UDOT Region 4 deputy director Jared Beard.
"We try to be good neighbors and listen," Beard said during an interview with KSL. "We reached out to our internal teams and our internal teams recommended that we pause work."
Linda Nielsen, whose friend lives in the area, was among those who contacted UDOT to raise their concerns.
"He called me and said, 'Oh my gosh, they're cutting — they're starting to cut,'" Nielsen said of her friend. "Some of these are 100-year-old trees."
She told KSL her friend's home was on the historic registry and other neighbors lived in similar historic structures in the area, and she said the trees themselves hold historic value.
Potential safety hazard
Beard said several of the trees are dying, and they pose a potential safety hazard, especially during wind and adverse weather.
"We continue to have larger branches and debris falling from these trees, and so really this is a project to enhance safety along the corridor," Beard said.
He said UDOT was now reviewing the maintenance work, looking at the historic aspects of the trees as well as potential environmental impacts.
"Migratory birds are a concern," Beard said. "If you have migratory birds that end up nesting in these trees, we need to do a full assessment and make sure we don't have any birds nesting in these trees through the several months."
Beard said the environmental review could take a couple months alone, and he said it was unclear when a decision would be made to either move forward or change the plan.
According to Beard, the project simply amounted to maintenance work.
"I know there are concerns about branches falling off the trees and possibly vehicles in the first lane, but I see this in many cities where the trees overlap the first lane and that possibility exists," Nielsen said. "I can see where they could possibly solve the problem without removing all of the trees, at least."
Nielsen said preservation was important to residents in Sanpete County, and she believed these types of discussions should be had more often there and around the state.
"I would love to see as many historic areas preserved as possible, and that includes trees (and) buildings," Nielsen said. "It matters to me because it's history, and history matters to me."
