COLORADO SPRINGS — Thousands of years of the city’s history is going to come tumbling down.
The Gazette reported Colorado Springs is going to start chopping down trees, most more than a century old. The trees in downtown medians are dead or dying from drought or drought-related diseases.
City officials say the trees are safety hazards because they can be toppled by high winds and attract bark beetles.
The trees are elm, ash, silver maple, white fir, spruce and pine. Most were planted 100 to 120 years ago to replace cottonwoods planted by city founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer.
Crews watered the trees in the medians until water restrictions imposed during the drought in 2002, and the city halted watering again due to tight budgets.
Removal of the trees will start next week.
