The National Park Service (NPS) won’t resume cutting down trees at a Potomac campground until park officials and a certified arborist meet Nov. 7 with concerned residents and Montgomery County Council member Roger Berliner.
On Friday, Berliner announced the “community conversation” will take place at the Swain’s Lock campground in the C&O National Historical Park, where park officials have said they must remove 26 trees and prune 32 others that are potentially hazardous to campers and other park users.
Barbara Brown, one of the Potomac residents who first alerted Berliner to the tree-cutting operation on Oct. 16, provided Bethesda Beat with photos of tree stubs, indicating that some of the trees have already been removed.
Kevin Brandt, superintendent of the C&O Canal National Historical Park, couldn’t be reached for comment. Neither could John Noel, the deputy superintendent of the park, who told Bethesda Beat earlier last week that five certified arborists agree the trees are hazardous and that he expected the work to resume soon.
Berliner said a state-certified arborist who evaluated the health of the trees will present findings at the Nov. 7 meeting, which is set to start at 9 a.m.
“The mature tree canopy that park visitors treasure has taken years to develop,” Brandt said in the press release distributed by Berliner’s office. “It is important to take the time to review and discuss the park’s hazard tree program with our stakeholders so that the right course of action is taken. Balancing the needs of our visitor’s safety and natural resources is what we have to do.”
Park officials also will discuss other areas of the C&O Canal Park where tree cutting is planned, including at Riley’s Lockhouse and the Marsden Tract campground near the intersection of Brickyard Road and MacArthur Boulevard in Potomac.
“Cutting down mature trees in our treasured park land along the canal always must be done with considerable care and [be] rooted in a strong scientific justification,” Berliner said. “I commend Superintendent Brandt’s willingness to hit the pause button on tree cutting and solicit additional feedback from residents that utilize these parts of the park.”
Sylvia Diss, a Potomac resident who lives about 10 minutes from Swain's Lock, said she saw “a lot of tree branches” on the ground at the site on the morning of Oct. 16. Diss, Brown and Potomac environmental advocate Ginny Barnes then contacted Berliner.
Ten years ago, Brown led the charge against Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s clear-cutting of trees between his Potomac property and the C&O Canal Park.
Last week, Noel said five certified arborists, including two who work for NPS, had already agreed that the trees removed and the ones slated to be removed were unhealthy and in some cases rotting from the inside, meaning dead branches could fall on park users.
“There are a lot of qualified people looking at this and the last thing we want to do is cut a tree down that’s a healthy tree,” Noel said. “But in our campgrounds, our visitors have a certain expectation of safety. People are laying in a tent. They are picnicking at a table. There are dead branches on these trees that have the potential to fall.”
