As I stepped into an elevator at Kootenai Health last week, I noticed two women looking at a front-page story in the Coeur d’Alene Press. “They’re cutting down more trees,” one said in an accusatory tone. “They” in this case being the city of Coeur d’Alene. “Don’t blame the city this time,” I said. It’s the feds. I told them that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was forcing the city to cut down a dozen or so trees in front of the North Idaho Museum, along Northwest Boulevard. To get FEMA levy certification, the city had to cut the trees and build a 3-foot wall to protect the historic Fort Grounds residents from flooding and costly flood insurance. Last year, the city leveled two-thirds of the trees along the Dike Road during an over-cut that satisfied the Army Corps of Engineers. But few Lake City residents. Adding insult to injury, Mother Nature toppled two dozen more trees near the waterfront during the November windstorm. In the City Known As Tree City USA, it’s no longer safe to be a tree/DFO, SR Sunday Huckleberries. More here.

Question: Am I the only one who has had his fill of federal government-mandated tree cuts in Tree City USA?