Rose Park street losing half its trees, upsetting some residents

SALT LAKE CITY — A street in the Salt Lake neighborhood of Rose Park is losing half its trees. The decision left some residents upset and wondering why.

The Riverwood Cove Apartments in Rose Park are on a street that has trees from end to end.

An upset resident said the city plans to cut down 20 of their trees this week. The trees were a big reason why they moved in.

Westside Coalition President Dan Strong explained that the trees are vital to the Westside’s heat island effect.

“The temperature actually can vary from the east to west of Salt Lake City on a hot day by almost 20 degrees,” he said. “And part of the reason for that is we don’t have enough trees. We don’t have the same tree density as we see in neighborhoods like Sugar House.”

Apartment Regional Manager Ashley Davis said those 20 trees in their complex are sick and at risk of falling.

The complex promised to replant new trees once the dying ones are removed and hopes to restore as much of what their residents love about living there.

Despite the promise, Strong said there’s a lot of work to be done.

“We love our trees. We also lost about a third of them to that windstorm three years ago,” he said. “So we’ve got work to do to even get back to where we were a few years ago.”

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