Latest / Best of: Features / Park service could remove more than 500 trees at historic golf course Trump wants to redesign

Transcript

Park service could remove more than 500 trees at historic golf course Trump wants to redesign · Best of: Features

• 0:05
  Park Service could remove more than five hundred trees at historic golf
• 0:08
  course Trump wants to redesign. Written by Matthew Daly This article
• 0:15
  is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlet. Washington, the
• 0:20
  AP. The National Park Service has begun a new round of tree
• 0:24
  cutting at a historic golf course near the National Mall as the
• 0:27
  Trump administration proceeds with a plan to renovate the East Potomac Golf
• 0:31
  Lynx into a championship level course More than five hundred trees that
• 0:36
  do not contribute to the historic landscape will
• 0:39
  be removed as part of the rehabilitation project, the National Park Service
• 0:43
  said.
• 0:43
  In a court filing Friday. No healthy trees that are contributing features
• 0:47
  of the historical golf course, including historic cherry trees, will be removed
• 0:52
  as part of the project, the Park Service said. A total of
• 0:57
  one hundred and sixty nine trees will be removed starting Saturday, with
• 1:00
  another ninety trees slated for removal later, the agency said. The tree
• 1:05
  removals come as President Donald Trump has moved to turn the course
• 1:08
  into a world class golf venue, part of his grand vision for
• 1:11
  Washingtonians DC, where he has torn down storied structures, remade or renamed
• 1:16
  others, and deployed the National Guard for more than a year. Some
• 1:20
  residents fear The
• 1:22
  planned changes to the Golf Course, where Trump has visited with a
• 1:25
  cabinet member, a well known golf course architect and blueprints, risk altering
• 1:30
  the character of a place that has served Washingtonians of all income
• 1:33
  levels for more than a century. Turning the park into an upscale
• 1:37
  golf course will mean costlier fees and a likely loss of public
• 1:41
  space. The National park
• 1:43
  service is finally implementing a seven year old plan to address tree
• 1:47
  overgrowth at East Potomac golf
• 1:49
  course The Interior Department said in a statement Saturday. The department oversees
• 1:54
  the Park Service and other agencies that manage federal lands. The
• 1:58
  renovation work will include selective tree and vegetation work to restore the
• 2:02
  course. The Interior Department said, adding that the work is intended to
• 2:06
  help restore the course's historic character and reopen views toward landmarks, including
• 2:12
  the Washington Monument, National War College, Potomac River, and Washington Channel. The
• 2:17
  Park Service recognizes the importance of trees to the park and its
• 2:21
  visitors. This carefully planned work is part of our required stewardship of
• 2:26
  the park, the statement said. The golf course will remain open to
• 2:30
  the public throughout The
• 2:31
  renovation effort, although individual holes may temporarily close while work is underway,
• 2:36
  the agency said. The one zero six year old public course has
• 2:41
  been embroiled in a lawsuit since February. Plaintiffs, including the DC Preservation
• 2:46
  League, say the Trump administration's reconstruction would violate the Congressional Act that
• 2:51
  created the park in eighteen ninety seven. The group sought an emergency
• 2:55
  stopwork order this spring because of concerns that work was expected to
• 2:59
  begin immediately on the course. Charles Bernbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape
• 3:05
  Foundation, a non profit that is suing the Trump administration over renovations
• 3:09
  at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, said the tree removal at the
• 3:13
  golf course should be subject to review under the National Historic Preservation
• 3:17
  Act. The work is not routine maintenance, and therefore, for a designated
• 3:22
  property, they need to undertake Section one hundred and six, Birnbaum said
• 3:27
  Saturday, referring to the section of the preservation law that requires federal
• 3:31
  agencies to consider a project's effects on historic and cultural properties. Trump,
• 3:36
  an avid golfer, has posted about the course on social media. When
• 3:40
  completed, this course will have the ability to host major golf tournaments,
• 3:44
  including the US Open, the Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship, and other
• 3:48
  top PGA tour events, he wrote in late June. It's unclear when
• 3:52
  the course could host any major tournaments, as locations are chosen several
• 3:56
  years ahead of the events.