10/31/2024
City of Lakewood -- stop this destructive trend. Save these Garry oaks on Interlaaken.
Send a letter via this template to protest the cutting down of these Garry oaks and other trees along Interlaaken:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/save-the-interlaaken-trees
It seems at least some Garry oaks are in danger of being cut down as a result of this project -- for example on the corner of 112th and Interlaaken, where they are right at the street. Smaller oaks can easily be over a hundred years old. Will they be saved? At least three other larger ones have been marked as well -- can the City guarantee they will be saved?
Just one correction to the TNT article -- the City employee seems to have perhaps incorrectly stated that no "old growth" trees would be cut down. How old does "old growth" have to be for her?
In case the City is planning to cut down Garry oaks as part of this project, it is worth reminding those who determine the trees' fates of some important information that seems too often to be overlooked during City projects and permitting.
Garry oaks grow extremely slowly. Our state's only native oak, they are a keystone species supporting more other species than any other tree here. They also enjoy a special status in the State of Washington, with special management recommendations from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
In Lakewood, Garry oaks only have to measure 4" diameter at breast height to qualify as "significant trees". For every inch of diameter, it takes 15-20
years (as per WDFW) of growth. So this means that an oak that looks small and insignificant compared to a Douglas fir (which can grow to great girth in just 50 years) easily be over a hundred years old!
Lakewood -- please instead plan around the Garry oaks! Please do not cut them down!
Best Available Science (see 1998 and 2024 WDFW Garry oak recommendations), which is what is supposed to guide Lakewood's decision-making process, says that Garry oaks West of the Cascades should not be cut down.
The Garry oaks at the corner of 112th and Interlaaken are also part of a stand of Garry oaks that includes oaks on both sides of the road. Garry oak stands enjoy special protection. In urban and urbanizing areas, according to WDFW recommendations, even smaller groves are to be protected.
The City of Lakewood would therefore also be destroying part of a Garry oak grove, which is legally a critical area that should be protected. The Growth Management Act stipulates that critical areas be protected and that they should experience no net loss.
Lakewood projects have destroyed many Garry oaks already -- such as on Hipkins this year for a roundabout (a large one, about 23" diameter at breast height, so over approx. 400+ years old; on Phillips Road, where about twelve large Garry oaks were cut down about two years ago, probably representing approx. 2,000 years of oak growth; and even in Fort Steilacoom Park, for a walking path, etc.). The City has also allowed the destruction of hundreds of Garry oaks all around town for warehouses and in residential areas.
City of Lakewood -- it's already high time to stop this destructive City-sponsored trend.
Would the City even try to mitigate the clearly foreseeable environmental damage that further sidewalks will be causing to Lakewood's iconic Garry oaks? It seems they didn't mitigate for the Garry oaks on Phillips or Hipkins Roads. But even if they did try -- it would all be in vain, because there can be no true mitigation for Garry oaks due to their extremely slow growth rate, which causes an insurmountable temporal loss in habitat and ecosystem functions.
So -- as WDFW (Best Available Science) recommends, the best course of action is to preserve and protect our Garry oaks!
Thank you!
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article294715634.html
