A federal judge in Washington argued that the Interior Department chopped down hundreds of trees at the East Potomac Golf Links in an effort to move quickly on President Donald Trump’s vision for a course redesign, countering the agency’s own reasoning for the removal.
The Interior Department and National Park Service have maintained that they removed more than 400 trees from the golf course in an effort to implement recommendations from a 2019 Cultural Landscape Report, which found that the growth of additional trees on the property has “altered the feeling of the course” to a parkland-style golf course, when it was originally intended as a links-style course.
Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden-appointed district judge for Washington, disagreed with the Interior Department’s claim of its reasoning for the tree removals in a court opinion, writing that “government officials raced to undertake the [tree removals] because President Trump demands haste on his redesign, and not because of some newfound zeal to implement a small part of a seven-year-old” agency report.
“The Government claims that the [tree removal process] implements a 2019 Cultural Landscape Report and has nothing to do with the Washington National Plan. It is a coincidence, the Government seems to suggest, that DOI cut down hundreds of trees at the Course weeks after the President asked DOI to cut down trees at the Course, and not, say, any other time in the last seven years. That asks rather a lot of coincidence,” Reyes wrote.
The Washington National Plan that Reyes referred to is the Trump administration’s plan for the redesign of the course.
Reyes wrote in her opinion that the park service removed 430 trees from the property over the weekend and “would have removed hundreds more but for a rain delay.” The NPS had told the court on Friday that it planned to remove no more than 529 trees from the property.
Reyes initially issued a one-day ban on the tree removals as she considered each side’s arguments, and she ultimately issued a two-week restraining order on all tree removals from the course until Oct. 26.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Interior Department for comment on Reyes’s opinion.
When reached for comment on Monday about the tree removals, a department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the removals are part of the 2019 report recommendations and “will help restore the course’s historic character and reopen views toward landmarks, including the Washington Monument, National War College, Potomac River and Washington Channel.”
JUDGE EXTENDS BAN ON TREE REMOVALS AT EAST POTOMAC GOLF LINKS FOR TWO WEEKS
“The National Park Service is finally implementing a 7-year-old plan to address tree overgrowth at East Potomac Golf Course. The work will include selective tree and vegetation work to restore the course,” the spokesperson said.
The department has also maintained that the historic cherry blossom trees on the property, which are iconic to the East Potomac Park, will not be affected by the planned removals.