Loss of Trees Reduces Shade at Gage Park

By Michael Hooper

Perhaps the saddest fact that I heard yesterday at a public meeting was Gage Park recently lost 30 trees in the widening of 6th Street and 10th Street.

Now the Topeka Zoo is planning to cut another 30 trees as part of a stormwater drainage system through Gage Park and the Topeka Zoo. The loss of a total of 60 trees will remove 50 acres of cooling shade from the park. The reduction in shade will make the park hotter, especially in the summer months, resulting in our own microcosm of global warming.

I know new trees have been planted and I'm grateful to see those planted. But old growth trees are precious. They have a "cooling effect" to the park, offering zones where there is plenty of shade, making it sometimes 5 to 10 degrees cooler.

The zoo director says this is a water quality issue to have storm water drain through bio-filters and a retention pond, but there's no test of existing stormwater whether it's polluted before going into the Kansas River.

The City of Lawrence has complained loudly about Topeka sewage being dumped in the Kansas River over the years. But I've never heard any complaints about pollution coming from Gage Park. And the park has been around since 1899. Wiley said the park has never had a storm drainage plan. Why is one needed now?

Yesterday at the public meeting at the zoo I appreciated hearing from the people involved in the project. I'm grateful to zoo director Brendan Wiley for holding the project meeting in the public space. 

A proposed retention cell is going to replace a grouping of old growth trees, where visitors like to park their cars during hot days. That location is directly west and south of Helen Hocker Theatre. The contractors for the project recently marked the entire location for the retention pond. The trees near the proposed pond are marked for death.

Wiley told me last week that the natural location for a retention cell is where the Helen Hocker Theatre is located. On Monday, Wiley said moving the Helen Hocker Theatre was not really an option they want to consider. Walking around the theatre, I can tell it is the low point of the area, and can understand why it floods during a rainstorm. The natural hydrology of the park suggests that the location for the pond should be where the theater is located or where the zoo's parking lot is located. So in essence, the zoo is putting a retention pond where it doesn't belong. This makes me think the entire project is flawed. I think a better location for a retention pond is the zoo parking lot. The zoo parking lot used to be the location of the swimming pool, so it's a natural place for a retention pond. Then they wouldn't have to cut down so many trees.

I don't want to see any change to the Helen Hocker Theatre or the trees. Build your Kay's Garden but don't take away our trees for an unnecessary trench and retention pond that will generate mosquitoes and reduce shade in the park.

I favor a public review of all of the options before any tree is cut down. I would like to see this go through the city council.

I think the stormwater drainage system is a waste of $1.5 million taxpayer dollars. When I look at the pros and cons of this, I just don't see that a dugout trench is going to be more valuable than 30 trees. Many of these trees have 20, 30, 40 years left in them, some of them are at the end of their life cycle and I understand that, but I still believe all these trees have provided so much life every single day of their lives. They're making a contribution to our world every day. The trees are striving to live. They have a survival instinct just like we do.

A couple of the marked trees have suffered from lightning strikes, where bark has been burned through the tree but somehow these trees are still alive. Among the trees scheduled to die is an evergreen tree of sorts that has taken many hits over the years but still somehow survives. This tree is a metaphor for the human body and life in general. We each have taken hits but somehow we continue to press on.

If it is true we lost already 30 trees to roadways and we are going to lose another 30 trees, that is 60 trees gone. The environmental impact of this is an increase in global warming right here, locally. I predict that the park will be hotter. When you remove 60 trees, the temperature goes up on hot days, you remove the cooling effect of the trees' shade. Literally 20 or 30 acres of land is now un-shaded.

When you go through the park on a hot summer day you want to park by a tree. The shade provides a cooling effect for your car.  This helps you tolerate the heat. A vital tree-lined parking area near an old red oak is being removed by this project.

There will be less habitat for birds, squirrels and bats and owls and Sparrow Hawks. I know there will be new tree plantings, but I think we should preserve what we have. Trees that are 80 years old are rare. I can hear the owls at night. As I live near Gage Park I can hear the Lion's roar from the zoo. The owls are the guardian of the night and the hawk is the guardian of the day. And they live in the trees at Gage Park.

A sparrow hawk that lives in the park visits my yard and eats the rabbits and mice. All of these animals and trees are very much a part of the ecosystem around here.

I see the old red oak scheduled for cutting. I've walked by this tree a hundred times at least. She is lovely in the fall with her red splendor. I once met a man from California sitting under this tree. He told me about a journey riding his bicycle up and down Highway 1 and how hilly it was. We rode for a while and shared a good time. The shade under the tree made it a spectacularly special and intimate setting for this encounter.

There are people who want this stormwater project and most of them work for the zoo and engineering firms and contractors who are getting paid to do this. Your blood is on this. You and the City -- and this includes the city council -- are responsible for the deaths of these trees. Don't blame anybody but yourselves for the demise of these trees. You can't blame the EPA.

Today Paul Porter and I walked and talked among the trees. I hugged the old red oak and we said prayers for the trees.

Save the trees, save the trees, save the trees.

If we can't save our trees and our wildlife what are we?