Residents protest tree plans

Depending on how you look at it, Minden's old cottonwoods and the open ditch that runs along County Road are hazardous or historic.

The issue was debated Wednesday night at the town board meeting by a handful of residents and others who attended the meeting to protest what they said were plans to clear-cut the trees, cover the ditch and install a sidewalk.

"I heard not all the trees are dead," said Susan Roaldson. "I think it's sad in Nevada we don't save our history or save our old trees."

Linda Kerley, whose property fronts the ditch, said she liked the trees and that's why she bought her house.

"Who needs a dumb sidewalk?" she asked. "I don't like the idea of a sidewalk coming close to the house."

Merry Belden who said she'd planted hundreds of trees on her Foothill Road property, said it would be decades before new growth would replace the old trees.

She also lamented the loss of the trees at the site of the old Bodine's and at the Walgreen's under construction at Highway 395 and Waterloo in Gardnerville.

"What's going on in Nevada with not respecting the environment and just desecrating it?" she said.

She supported leaving the ditch open.

"I think you should retain the ditch. It adds a lot of charm. You can watch children play in it and go fishing," she said.

Engineer Brenda Stein, who has been working on the sidewalk and ditch project for four years, tried to counter the rumors that all the old trees were coming down.

"The issue that we're just going to clear all trees is not true," she said. "We don't want to go in and take all the trees. The elm trees are healthy. There is no reason those trees have to go."

Public works director Greg Hill, also a certified arborist, said whenever the town removes a tree, at least two are planted.

"We don't want to go on anybody's property and cut down their trees," he said. "We're sympathetic to the issue. If we could, we would save every tree. They're in bad shape. We're not doing any favors by keeping the old trees.

"Part of the problem is that trees are like people. They don't live forever."

Fifteen years ago, the town removed several cottonwoods around MInden Park and replaced them with different species.

"It's not Minden's policy to just bulldoze their way through," Stein said. "We work with the public."

Hill explained that the ditch was installed decades ago to move water through Minden to ranchers who maintained it.

"As more homes came in, it became harder and harder to do that," Hill said.

Some residents have landscaped along the ditch, other people use it as a trash dump.

"The ditch is dry 99 percent of the time," Hill said. "Five months of the year there is irrigation. The water is in there for 3-4 days' time maybe 15 times a year. The rest of the time, it's collecting trash."

Rancher Henry Dreyer said the cottonwoods steal water and represent a safety issue.

"The trees are rotted," he said. "It's scary to watch that whole tree wiggle when you're using a backhoe and wondering which way it's going to fall. You are looking at a major liability."

Town board member Bruce Jacobsen, echoed another resident's concern about safety.

"I nearly lost a brother in that ditch," he said.

Stein said the town would continue to work with residents and Reno arborist Molly Sinnott to provide an independent evaluation of the trees' health.

"So it's not like we're just meeting in backrooms or something," she said.

She said after the diseased and dead trees were removed, piping the ditch would begin in the winter with the sidewalk and new tree plantings in the spring.

Roaldson remained unconvinced.

"You're saying these trees are hollow and ill, but they're the oldest and strongest trees in the Valley," she said. "I feel like these are excuses to get rid of the trees. They're all excuses."