Laments the loss of trees

I watched in dumbstruck disbelief and distress when they started tearing out the trees in front of the old Columbia Falls grade school. It never crossed my mind that they would be removed; they were beautiful and beneficial and would have made a perfect border to the new school. Is anyone as upset as me that they weren’t included in the master plan?

It doesn’t make sense to rip up 30-plus-year-old trees, established landscape and also important filters for the air. You know the school is right next door to a wood manufacturing plant, right?

And around the corner from a bark plant? You have any idea how much dust is in the air? Trees help clean air! When I saw those trees being ripped out I cried for half a day. I watched those trees grow up. I felt like I was watching friends die. I loved watching them over the seasons.

They deserved to live. This is an open plea to Mr. Ruis, who now owns the property adjacent to the demolished school. When you build those senior apartments I am begging you: let the trees live. And to the people who planned the new school, shame on you for not taking the beneficial and beautiful trees into consideration when you designed it  

Instead of enjoying looking at a new school through a screen of green I get to see a straight line stark building that looks like a prison. I voted for this, and I feel cheated and sad, not just for me but for the lesson to the kids that go to school there that nature doesn’t matter.

Gail McLean

Columbia Falls