Group protests school district's plans to cut down trees at Ingraham

Vicky Prestrud carefully taped pictures of a dozen birds on the chain-link fence surrounding a small forest at Ingraham High School.

These are the birds, owls, chickadees and woodpeckers that spend time in a grove of trees at the school slated to be cut down, Prestrud said.

"I live next door to the school," she said. "I've seen all these birds in my yard or the school yard.

A dozen people who live near Ingraham in north Seattle gathered outside the fence today to protest plans by the Seattle school district to cut down more than 90 trees, many of them decades-old.

Supporters said the trees are 25-years older than the high school itself.

The protesters, part of Save Our Trees, say they may go to court to block the school district's plans and, if the trees are cut down, will launch a recall petition of Seattle School Board members who supported the Ingraham plan.

The district wants to cut down the trees as part of a $24 million renovation project authorized by voters last year.

Residents argue the trees provide a welcome buffer between their homes and the high school. "This is a terrible example for the students of the city," said Steve Zemke, a spokesman for Save Our Trees. "The school district is playing the role of a schoolyard bully."

The school district plans to cut down nearly 70 trees, primarily evergreens, from a stand of 133. The district also plans to cut down 30 more trees deemed to be diseased. It wants to remove portable classrooms and replace them with an addition to the school.

The district plans to remove the trees next Friday and Saturday, while students are not at the school.

The school district asserts, in a letter to neighbor's of the high school, that it has already passed the environmental hurdles necessary to remove the trees, including a city examiner's determination that the tree cutting did not require a full environmental study and the trees could be cut down.

But that doesn't satisfy the residents, who question why the addition can't be built on a vacant piece of land at the north end of the school without cutting down the trees.

The district sent letters to the neighbors this week telling them that they plan to plant three trees for every one removed.

The district also withdrew its pending application for a master-use permit for the school addition which means it can remove the trees now.

"As long as these applications are not pending, no city permits are required for removal of the trees, as none of those trees constitute "exceptional trees" under city codes," wrote school official Fred Stephens this week. He said the permit will be resubmitted this fall.

By then, the residents fret, the trees will be gone.

Zemke said that the decision by the district to withdraw the permit application is a way to get around the tree-removal dispute, but the group still plans to appeal. The appeal must be filed by Aug. 14.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com