Old. Sick or dying. Creating a havoc on sidewalks. Non-native. Not heritage species. These are some of the reasons given for chopping down 400 trees that once grew along the 12-mile stretch of road traveled by the space shuttle Endeavor on October 12-13.  From Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park, Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.), Jacaranda (Jacaranda spp.), and others were toppled to make room for the NASA transporter carrying the 75-ton, five-story tall spaceship that measured 122 feet in length and 78 feet wide. 

Photos of the gaping spaces and enormous trunks left behind after tree removal can be viewed online at the link listed below. Some trees were more than 80 years old. While I don’t label myself a “greenie,” I am a softie for all things living, especially big and tall, old trees. For me, something seems amiss when a single two-day road trip trumps a survivor with almost a century of growth.

Certainly, the California Science Center expects the shuttle, which CSC president Jeffrey Rudolph called “a historical piece” and “a national treasure,” to draw 800,000 visitors a year. And by 2017, the center plans to build the shuttle’s permanent home—the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center complete with launch pad and replica fuel tanks and rocket boosters. Also, CSC pledged $500,000 for road improvements and landscaping, promising to replant more trees than were removed.

But I wonder about the arboreal impact on people in communities (Westchester, Inglewood, Los Angeles) now living without wind protection, air filtration and summer shade from those big and tall, old trees. In the dialogue of history, will anybody mention the measure of their worth?

Click below for link to a slide show of post-removal median strip in Inglewood, CA: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/us-usa-space-shuttle-idUSBRE88I01D20120919