The trees finally come down at Ingraham. Credit: R.B.
The trees finally come down at Ingraham.
  • R.B.
  • The trees finally come down at Ingraham.

The Seattle school district started cutting down a grove of trees at Ingraham High School at 8:30 a.m. today, even as a group of environmentalists protested against it. The tree removal came more than two months after a King County Superior Court Judge lifted an injunction to stop it, clearing the way for the construction of a classroom building. Judge Theresa Doyle ruled that local environmentalist group Save the Trees—who filed a lawsuit against the district to stop more than 70 trees from being razed two years ago—had failed to prove that the district had violated environmental laws.

Save the Trees, headed by local activist Steve Zemke, argued in court that the trees at Ingraham, some of them decades old, were a rare plant habitat. They asked Seattle Public Schools to do an Environmental Impact Statement instead of an environmental checklist to show that the construction would have no adverse impact on the trees.The group also wanted the district to construct the building extension on the north end instead of the west end of the Ingraham campus. But the district said that would not be a viable alternative. SPS scaled down the project, and decided to cut only 27 trees.

But that did little to appease Save the Trees, who criticized the district’s actions today morning at a press conference. The group did not interfere with the tree cutting process however, the school district’s facilities communications person Tom Redman said, staying away from the cordoned off areas. “There were some verbal protests, but that’s about all,” Redman, who was supervising the work, said. “Weather permitting, we are going to try to finish cutting all the trees today.”

“Ingraham is only a precursor to many more trees being lost,” Zemke said in an email. “Unfortunately trees have no standing in Seattle and no voice. Neighbors and others who want to keep our city green with trees must be their voice.” Save the Trees is currently working with a group of tree advocates called “Save Our Urban Forest Infrastructure” to create stronger protection for trees and urban forests. “So that we don’t become the Emerald City in legend only,” Zemke said.

Jump to see the site of the proposed school building addition.

The site of the proposed school building addition.
  • R.B.
  • The site of the proposed school building addition.

16 replies on “After Long Court Battle, Ingraham High School Trees Finally Come Down Today”

  7. @TVDinner: If urban forests are important, then someone should buy them (either privately or publicly) and preserve them as such. We shouldn’t try to impose on the financially-strapped Seattle School District the obligation of preserving urban forests.

  8. I think Riya’s going to have one of the best stories at the end of Monday. She’ll be glad for her school beat.

    The State Auditor is releasing yet another audit of Seattle Schools – this one on the capital management program (the wing of SPS that remodels/rebuilds schools). Don’t look for good news.

  9. Let’s not forget that there is a lot of space around Ingraham High School. They could have expanded it in a different direction, and they chose to fight in court instead.

    While trees of this size are not unusual in Seattle, a grove of this size, with trees this old, is rare.

    FWIW, there has been enough public concern shown for this grove that at one point there were at least four TV station cameras filming at once during the tree cutting.

  10. Steve Zemke can go fuck himself. Those snag trees, half dead, geez, sorry he bought a fucking house across the street from a high school, but, he did, get over it.

  11. Speaking as a student who goes to Ingraham…
    Those trees haven’t grown leaves in years, and the students just used it as a place to smoke and make out. Not exactly the healthiest environment. The trees themselves aren’t even healthy. They’re diseased.
    The plan to build this math building has been on the original blueprint for Ingraham itself, but somehow was pushed off. Those trees weren’t even there when the blueprint was drawn out.
    Ingraham is going to plant a new tree somewhere else for every tree that’s being taken down.
    The current portables being used as math classes are disgusting and unsanitary. Certain portables had to be closed down because they made teachers so sick.
    Where on the north end of our campus is there room to build a new building that wouldn’t be too far away and involve tearing down other parts that belong to Ingraham?
    Would you guys kindly get over this because you don’t know what you’re talking about?

  12. Speaking as a student who goes to Ingraham…
    Those trees haven’t grown leaves in years, and the students just used it as a place to smoke and make out. Not exactly the healthiest environment. The trees themselves aren’t even healthy. They’re diseased.
    The plan to build this math building has been on the original blueprint for Ingraham itself, but somehow was pushed off. Those trees weren’t even there when the blueprint was drawn out.
    Ingraham is going to plant a new tree somewhere else for every tree that’s being taken down.
    The current portables being used as math classes are disgusting and unsanitary. Certain portables had to be closed down because they made teachers so sick.
    Where on the north end of our campus is there room to build a new building that wouldn’t be too far away and involve tearing down other parts that belong to Ingraham?
    Would you guys kindly get over this because you don’t know what you’re talking about?

  13. Dear Student at Ingraham. The trees at Ingraham were mostly Douglas fir and western red cedar. They are healthy and have needles not leaves. The madone trees in the grove are in decline in Seattle and the trees at Ingraham were no different than those in others parts of Seattle. They are sensitive to pollution and are in a condition normal for Seattle. Some of the madrone trees were ready to be removed but theywere a small minority of trees in the grove.

    The Northwest tree grove was once a designated smoking area but it is a myth that people smoke there now. They all go across the street to get off the property. Ask the neighbors who know.

    The proposed added classrooms were not on the original blueprints. And the trees were larger than the School when it was build in about 1960. Look at old yearbook pictures. The trees are now over 70 years old and any trees replanted will take 70 years to produce an equivalent amount of canopy cover.

    Yes the current portables are bad and should have been taken down long ago. The school district obviously ignored their upkeep and should have replaced them long ago.

    The North lawn is where the school district has plans to build in the future. They included an addition for such in their Ingraham Master plan when they filed with the city to build the current addition. Don’t believe everything the School District says. People were just trying to cover up their mistake of ignoring the value of trees in their plans. They also originally proposed cutting down the east grove of trees for a potential parking lot when they proposed the current addition.

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