Granted the beauty of the trees along the levees, but one hopes the new policy developed is one that is more concerned about the safety of the levees, rather than the trees growing on them.
The restriction on large levee vegetation is not necessarily a recipe for ugliness, but if large tree roots do compromise the safety of earthen levees, the possible resulting destruction of a failed levee surely would.
Pact gives a reprieve to Valley's levee trees
By Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 22, 2007
Levee managers in the Central Valley are being told to holster their chain saws following a deal announced Friday to stay the execution of thousands of trees on area riverbanks.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed not to enforce the vegetation component of its levee maintenance rules while a new policy is developed. The decision grants a reprieve to riverbank trees and their supporters throughout the Central Valley.
"What a sad place this would be without those trees," said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, who chairs the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. "I am pleased that by really looking at the science and listening to experts we are on the way to policies much more appropriate to Sacramento. We're back on the right track now."
For decades, the Army Corps allowed trees and large shrubs on Central Valley levees -- and even encouraged planting more. They did so in cooperation with wildlife agencies because there is almost no other riverbank habitat left.
Then, after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the corps took a more rigid stance and enforced its national vegetation policy in California for the first time. That policy allows no plants larger than 2 inches in diameter on levees.
As a result, 32 Central Valley levee districts learned in January that they had failed a maintenance inspection, largely because of excessive vegetation. Many more, including urban Sacramento levees, were likely to fail another round of inspections this fall. The potential consequences of a failed inspection include losing access to federal levee rebuilding funds after a flood, and decertification by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Many local levee districts objected because of the expense required to clear vegetation. In many cases, levees would have to be rebuilt after removing tree roots. Residents feared loss of shade, scenery and habitat.
