Item: These trees won't fall easily: Residents hope city will explore all options to keep ponderosa pines/Tom Hasslinger, CdA Press

More Info: Tom Torgerson is one Coeur d'Alene resident who wants the community to crunch its own numbers before even one of the 500 ponderosa pine trees is removed. "I would say I'm cautiously optimistic," said Torgerson on the chances of success fighting - or at least questioning - the federal findings that rule those trees are a hazard sitting on the dike. "I couldn't sit back and not try." What's needed, once the Army Corps of Engineers releases its data in the next month, is "an overwhelming abundance of proof that they pose a danger," he said. That should be determined not just by the federal study, Torgerson said, but with local engineers and arborists studying the same terrain.

Question: Is it wise to get a second opinion on the trees along Coeur d'Alene's Dike Road -- to ensure that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn't overreacting to problems it has encountered elsewhere?