Tree Replanting Project Takes Root on Eagle Rock Street

The evergreen pear trees that line much of Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock are nearing the end of their life span, said Scott Wilson, a retired horticulture teacher who heads the nonprofit group North East Trees.

He knows, he said, because he was there when they were planted 32 years ago.

Together with a group of his students from Eagle Rock High School, Wilson planted the dark-leaved trees to beautify the thoroughfare.

But the evergreen pears are getting old, many are diseased and their limited height blocks the signs of several stores, Wilson said.

Through a federal grant to North East Trees, Wilson and a group of youths and volunteer workers have started uprooting about 30 of the old trees in the vicinity of the old City Hall and replacing them with London plane trees. The new trees are better suited for Southern California’s climate and will grow much taller than the evergreen pears, up to 50 feet high, Wilson said.

Several magnolias also will be planted in a street median, along with about 10 ginkgo trees just west of the London planes.

But not everyone in Eagle Rock is pleased with the new trees.

Shirley Minser, a retired Los Angeles City Council field deputy, was among a group of residents and business owners who did not want the old trees removed.

“I have no qualms about beautifying the area [but] I am upset about this. . . . You don’t take out healthy trees,” said Minser, adding that she collected signatures of 150 people opposed to Wilson’s replanting project.

She also objected to the plane trees, which look much different from the hundreds of evergreen pears along Colorado. “It disrupts the continuity,” she said.

Minser brought her concerns to the city Public Works Commission last month, but members unanimously voted to approve Wilson’s project.

So far, North East Trees has planted 19 trees along one side of Colorado. The replanting project is expected to be completed by Nov. 9, Wilson said.