City Cast DC

U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes declined Thursday to intervene in the government's removal of trees at East Potomac Park, siding with the Department of the Interior’s argument that its current work is lawful.

The National Park Service has removed 150 trees from the park as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Michael Keith Robertson, a lawyer representing the Trump administration. Robertson argued that crews were selective about which trees they cut down: 77 were invasive trees and 73 were dead, dying or hazardous. The only species currently being removed are mulberry trees and trees of heaven, officials said.

Reyes said the government’s current work was consistent with what she had previously allowed: removing invasive, dead, dying or hazardous trees rather than implementing the broader renovation plan. She said she had no reason to disbelieve the government’s assurances that it would provide notice before taking any irreversible steps toward that larger project.

The hearing is the latest attempt by the D.C. Preservation League to halt any construction on East Potomac Park that would contribute to President Donald Trump’s aspirations to build a pricey, championship-style golf course facility. It comes about a week after activists raised alarms about the National Park Service cutting down dozens of trees throughout the golf course. City Cast DC visited the course and witnessed tree-removal trucks on the greens, as well as a heap of tree trunks near the 14th hole.

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