Writer bemoans diminishing tree canopy - Alamosa, CA

Valley Courier Alamosa Trees - Diminishing tree canopy?

I’m saddened as I walk around town and notice the number of trees that have been cut down recently. Some were older trees; some were interfering with utility lines. I’m alarmed when I see that the homeowners and businesses do not plant new trees. 

When several blocks of North State Street were renovated, several large trees were removed. The City of Alamosa offered to plant new trees, but the landowners declined, according to City Manager Nathan Cherpeski. He mentioned that the houses were rental properties. 

One house on West Street now has only rock and gravel in the front yard. While carefully done, it is barren, with no sign of green or life.

When San Luis Valley Federal Bank cut down 7 large trees in 2009 or 2010, a bank representative told me they were planning to replace them with 12 fruitless crabapples in the spring. Instead, they concreted over the entire north side of the bank along 4th St. and graveled in the east side on Edison. Not a single new tree.