Residents rage as 50-year-old trees ripped down in Morro Bay: Where would the birds live?

The removal of 50-year-old Cypress trees that have stood at a California elementary school for decades has drawn rage from locals.14 trees located at Del Mar Elementary School in Morro Bay are coming down to make room for two new preschool classrooms, KSBY reported.“We needed a wider fire lane, as well as (disability) accessibility pathways which caused us to have to move the footprint of the building into the hillside some and putting up a huge retaining wall behind those,” San Luis Coastal Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Ryan Pinkerton told KSBY.Community members, however, gathered at the church next door this past Wednesday for a “grief and grievance” ceremony.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story The 14 trees provided shelter to owls and birds and were a windbreak for the houses on the hill above, neighbors said.They were important to the community garden and church behind them.“Trees are significant to Morro Bay residents,” said resident Betty Winholtz.

“I mean we’re a bird city where [would] the birds live? They live in the trees.”“It’s very heart-breaking to see a city that we call Tree City USA allowing this to occur,” said another resident Michelle Howard-Leicester to KSBY.The city of Morro Bay, in fact, has been named a “Tree City USA” community by the Arbor Day Foundation for over 23 years.

To maintain such a distinction, a city must have a tree board or department, rules protecting public trees, an annual celebration and a community forestry program.Pinkerton said the district has obtained a permit for the the tree removals.Thirty new trees will be replanted on another side of campus as part of an agreement to double the number of removed trees.There have been worries, he added, that the exis...