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  DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Stumps remain after workers cut down 50 Eucalyptus trees that lined Wilshire Boulevard in front of the UCLA Medical Center last week.

By Rachel Makabi

Daily Bruin Contributor

Only mounds of dirt remain as university officials order that the 50 Viminalis Eucalyptus trees, which have lined Westwood Boulevard for 72 years, be cut down for safety reasons.

“The bottom line is that this is a safety project,” said Jack Powazek, assistant vice chancellor for Facilities Management.

But others disagreed with the removal of the trees.

“It is an outrage to me,” said long-time Westwood resident Steve Goldberg. “Something that links the school to something that old with history, and they just decide to cut it down.”

UCLA decided to spend $69,000 replacing the 50-foot Eucalyptus trees with Canary Island pines after an investigation by two independent arborists, university officials said.

“These trees are near very heavy traffic areas and having received reports from certified arborists that these are a safety hazard, we must remove them,” Powazek said. “The safety of students, staff and visitors is more important than these trees.”

But Goldberg said the university could have approached the situation differently, such as trimming the trees or only cutting down the dangerous ones.

He added that if the university had to cut down the trees, they should replace them with other Eucalyptus trees instead of Canary Island pines.

The Daughters of the American Revolution originally donated 80 Eucalyptus trees in 1929. The university has since removed 30 trees because of old age, disease and decay.

“Six of those 30 actually fell, and two of those hit cars,” Powazek said. “The last one (hit) on the first day of classes last fall. Luckily it hit the trunk of the car – half a second earlier it would have hit where the driver was.”

Bob Hansen, one of the independent arborists that conducted the investigation for UCLA, said the trees became sick from several years of expansion.

After widening Westwood Boulevard, the new curb came within inches of the tree roots and restricted the root zone – the area where the roots needed to spread, Hansen said.

“Maybe a couple of trees could have been saved for a couple more years, but this was the right thing to do,” he said.

Hansen also cited pipe trenching, a change in the level of soil surrounding the roots and the concrete from the Medical Plaza placed over roots, as contributing to the trees’ deterioration.

According to the Tree Advisory Commission for the City of Sierra Madre, Canary Island pines grow to about 90 feet.

Powazek said the university decided to use the pine trees because of their strong root structure, straight growth and fast-growing qualities.

But according to the commission’s Web site, Canary Island pines have relatively shallow and aggressive roots and can damage walkways if they aren’t given enough space.

On Tuesday, several people protested the cutting down of the Eucalyptus trees on Westwood Boulevard. According to the June 20 Los Angeles Times, environmentalists criticized the university for not informing the community in time for an independent arborist to investigate.

Powazek said the university sent out a memo to 2,500 university officials.

Many students, who had already left for summer break, did not know of the affair.

“This is the first time I am hearing of this,” said Christine Riordan, a fourth-year Spanish and international development studies student and a member of the Environmental Coalition. “But it seems like something that I would have gotten involved in.”

Gail Cowling, executive officer at Facilities Management, said the university will cut down the trees in Westwood on June 18-29 as part of a first round. The second round, which will include the Eucalyptus trees along the northern part of Sunset Boulevard near the University Elementary School, will begin in August.

Superintendent of Grounds Michael Kitasato said everything from the trees will be biodegradable. Wood from the trees will be ground into chips and spread on areas of campus for weed and erosion control, he said.

Corrina Aragon, business manager of Patient Relations in the Medical Plaza, said she will miss the trees, but she understands that they must be cut down for safety reasons.

“It is very sad to cut down beautiful trees like that,” Aragon said.

With reports by Michaele Turnage, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.

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