SEATTLE — A Douglas fir was cut down Monday in Seattle's Maple Leaf neighborhood after activists attempted to stop the tree's removal.
Pacific Tree Management cut down the tree near 90th Street and Fifth Avenue with the approval of the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections. The work was previously paused after community members fought to protect the tree.
Sandy Shettler with The Last 6,000, an environmental group documenting the remaining trees across the city with trunks that have a diameter of 30 inches or more, pointed out that the tree's removal comes amid a heatwave. The Douglas fir, she said, is a "perfect example" of a tree that should have been retained because it was a native conifer located at the edge of the property it was removed from.
The fight to save the Douglas fir and another tree, a cedar, has opened a broader conversation about how property owners and developers are able to obtain permits to cut trees down in the city.