City of Dallas Media Release

Removal of Ailing Trees On April 1 Will Revitalize A Popular Downtown Area

(DALLAS) – Trees declining in health are creating hazardous conditions with falling limbs in downtown Dallas, according to city officials. As a result, the Dallas Park and Recreation Department will replace 40 Sweetgum trees on St. Paul Street.

“Trees add value to urban infrastructures and enhance a city’s quality of life. When trees, like other public properties, become distressed, they harm the environment and aesthetics of their surroundings,” said certified arborist Michael Hellmann, park planning and acquisitions manager with the park department.

Over the years, the trees have become unhealthy and now they present a public safety concern because of dead and falling limbs onto the sidewalks, he said.

The ailing trees are located in tree wells along the east side of St. Paul Street from the Woodall Rodgers Freeway to Ross Avenue. City workers will begin removing the trees April 1 and expect to complete the project late next week.

After the trees are removed, the park department will renovate the irrigation system, add soil to the tree wells and plant 3” to 4” caliper Chinese Pistachio trees, which are more suitable to the urban environment, Hellmann said.

“Chinese Pistachios are great medium-sized trees and are relatively fast growing with little to no insect or disease problems. They will provide the same lovely fall color along this streetscape as the Sweetgums did in their prime,” Hellmann said.

JamesN, you’re right, reading the newspaper is “good for you.” When Dallas brings back The Dallas Times Herald, or when The Dallas Morning News stops reading/looking like USA Today, I’ll start reading a printed daily again.

Thanks for the 411 on the trees.

They were “ailing”? I walk that block two or three times a week. The trees looked great. They were not dropping anything on the sidewalk. Now there are 40 stumps, and they’re going to replace the native sweetgum with non-native Chinese pistachios (which, with a more lateral growth pattern, are going to be hitting the west wall of the sculpture garden and interfering with traffic on St. Paul within 2 years).

Can’t Dallas find a better way to spend our money than hacking down trees?