FOLLOWUP: Revisiting East Admiral illegal-tree-cutting site

After Tuesday’s news of city lawsuits in the case of illegal tree-cutting on public land in East Admiral, some asked what the site looks like now. We don’t have September 2015 photos for a true comparison, so keep in mind that any area with deciduous trees will look dramatically different between the end of winter and the end of summer. But here are the closest “now and then” shots:

Above is our Wednesday afternoon view looking west/upslope after walking into the city land north of CityView/34th SW. You can barely pick out the tops of a couple of the residences (note the chimney) clearly visible in our March photo taken from that same trail:

(March WSB photo)

Looking the other way, this time, to the east:

That was the Wednesday afternoon view from an angle similar to, but from a higher perspective than, this one photographed in March:

(March 2016 WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)

Note that our photos involve what the city calls “Area C,” which is the subject of the “southern site” lawsuit against Kostas and Linda Kyrimis and “John and Jane Does.” The “northern site” lawsuit involves “Area A,” which is much less accessible, aside from a view looking downslope from the 35th SW street end, which is where we took this photo Tuesday afternoon:

(We haven’t found a photo with a March view from that spot.) Here’s the graphic from the lawsuit documentation, showing where Areas A and C are:

Meantime, we are watching court files to see what tentative scheduling will be set for these cases to proceed in court.

ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: We did obtain the case numbers for the lawsuits today, and the online files verify that for starters, as with most if not all civil cases, these have tentative trial dates that are a year away. Along the way, however, motions and hearings pop up, and that’s what we’ll be watching for.

Rocky Raccoon September 22, 2016 (3:48 am)

People suck.

935 September 22, 2016 (5:39 am)

Nature abhors a vacuum…..

Looks like the new growth is coming in nicely, as a previous story poster stated.

WS September 22, 2016 (7:26 am)

New growth?! Looks like a lot of low level weeds and shrubs not trees. No way that vegetation could keep that hill stable.

ZT September 22, 2016 (7:56 am)

Seriously 935? Just stop. You sound silly.

watertowerjoey September 22, 2016 (8:36 am)

Looks like the treeweeds are growing back just fine.

Heather September 22, 2016 (9:18 am)

I appreciate these photos – especially the court graphic. I’ve been following this story and didn’t realize just how much area had been affected. If those lots are each 8000sqft (low ball guess), that means just a handful of people destabilized over 32000sqft of public land. I’m speechless.

4thGenWestSide September 22, 2016 (9:34 am)

I hope, besides monetary damages, these people are required to do TONS of community service hours. Make them cut down blackberry bushes and pick up garbage in West Seattle until the REAL trees start growing back, or a period of 20 years. Whichever come sooner. Bummer that one of the parties is a local celebrity.

Bobito September 22, 2016 (1:58 pm)

Local celebrity? Who?
- AMD September 22, 2016 (6:32 pm)
  
  Marty Reimer, from the Marty and Jodi morning show on 95.7

Concerned Citizen September 22, 2016 (9:45 am)

Don’t forget this isn’t the first time trees have been cut from the same area…..It happened in 2007, 2009 & 2010. You have to scroll down pretty far in the comments on this article to see pictures of previous tree cuts: https://westseattleblog.com/2016/03/followup-where-east-admiral-tree-cutting-investigation-stands-city-attorneys-office-says-could-be-a-felony/

This is by far the most egregious cutting and the first time they have been caught, but the area has had trees cut before.

John September 23, 2016 (9:46 am)

Trees were commonly topped with city approval until fairly recently. Even now their are ways of getting around that.

It is highly likely that these trees were topped and hacked to their bases repeatedly over the last century.

When looking at the clear-cut, it is evident that this was a typical mono-culture of decades of neglect by the city, never in recent history the “canopy” that the City Attorney Describes. There were virtually none of what are considered desirable trees in this “canopy”. No great firs, cedars nor madrones. Just multi-trunked big leaf maple, invasive ivy and invasive blackberry so typical of Seattle’s neglected Green Spaces.

wscommuter September 22, 2016 (10:11 am)

Planting some birch (and similar varieties) will fill in much faster. Put in an 8-10′ juvenile Himalayan Birch and watch it grow 5′ a year. Good root systems for slope stability.

John September 22, 2016 (8:55 pm)

Himalayan Birch is not allowed to be planted on Critical Area Steep Slopes.

Environmentally Critical Areas also have their own requirements for vegetation restoration. Only nine types of indigenous trees are allowed.

bolo September 22, 2016 (10:46 am)

Too bad we don’t have “before” before photos, showing pre-clearcutting.

Kelly Kirkland September 22, 2016 (6:50 pm)

It’s very sad but I’m glad to know we’re (our government) attempting some justice. I always thought Marty was connected to our community in a genuine way. I had to reprogram my dial this morning.