Timber stand improvement or clear cut? Officials, volunteers, studens debate clearing measures taken in urban park; St. Louis. MO

Claire Gempp Conservation Area
Some claim tree removal from nature park is too extreme
by Kevin Murphywrite the author
06/05/2009 - A large number of trees "thinned" from a section of Sunset Hills' Claire Gempp Davidson Memorial Conservation Area has some people seeing red over a project that promises more green.
Controversy over the extent of tree removal in one section of Claire Gempp resulted in the February resignation of a nine-year member of a city commission charged with managing the nature park.
"Over 80 percent of the trees were cut out of there. By definition, a clear cut is 90 percent. So they almost clear cut the section," Tomey said.
Jim Koeger, chairman of the Claire Gempp Commission, doesn't like to talk in terms of cutting down trees. He said the forest was thinned as part of a timber stand improvement (TSI), the forester's equivalent to weeding the garden.