By Rachel Helgeson, reporting intern
Nearly 100 trees were lost to UW-Eau Claire’s current construction and campus redesign project along Garfield Avenue, but plans are in place to replace most of them.
The $12.4 million project began last year and is expected to be completed this coming fall.
Trees that lined Garfield Avenue west of Park Avenue, shown as red dots on the map below, were removed while only some nine trees were saved. (These are shown as green circles on the map.) The trees that were cut down ranged in size and age, and included a large number of mature trees.
Trees near the center of campus were removed during the 2017 spring break and the rest were cut down during spring break this year. The removals were planned to take place over the breaks because those time periods would be least disruptive to campus activity, according to Assistant Chancellor for Facilities Mike Rindo. Birds were also expected to begin nesting soon after that time, he said.
The construction is necessary, according to Geography Prof. Garry Running, because outdated utilities beneath Garfield Avenue must be replaced. As part of this project, a redevelopment team crafted a plan to redesign the look of Garfield Avenue and the campus riverfront. That plan includes replanting trees to replace many of the ones that had to be taken down.
The redevelopment committee, comprised of students, faculty and administrators, was responsible for contributing input to the redesign planning, working with the local branch of Ayres Associates, a nationwide engineering, architectural, environmental and survey firm. Rindo chaired the committee and Running was a member.
Running said he and other faculty members on the team who specialized in ecological and environmental issues were consulted during the planning for tree cutting. He said the trees had to come down both to gain access to the underground utilities and to provide space needed for construction equipment during the project.
“It was unfortunate that we had to take down so many mature trees but there was a big footprint of stuff that they had to get to and that costs some trees,” Running said. “They saved everything they could.
Running said he was also consulted during the planning phase for replanting, but noted that there are limitations that exist for that process.
“We have to deal with the constraints for what trees can do and be in here (campus), what their size could be, what are they going to look like when they’re mature,” Running said. “They really wanted to have as many or more trees when it was all said and done than what had to go.”
Communication between the redevelopment team and the Ayres Associates team was effective, Running said. He added that although he and other consulted faculty did not have complete authority over the plans, he felt that their input was considered.
Running said he wanted more native trees planted, however, and realizes that the campus will look very different for awhile before the trees grow.
“There’s going to look like there’s not very many trees when they’re little, but when they get big, there (will seem to) be a lot,” he said.
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Note: a related story, reporting on the overall UW-Eau Claire lower campus redevelopment project, can be found by clicking here.
The home page photo, taken earlier this year by Rachel Helgeson, shows Garfield Avenue west of Park Avenue without many of the trees that used to line it.