Trees surrounding Newport Beach's Environmental Nature Center cut down
The Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach is supposed to be a place to enjoy the great outdoors, but part of the beauty is disappearing.
"Over by the river over there, I wasn't allowed to go there on the first day because they were cutting trees down and that kind of made me sad because that's my favorite place at ENC," camper Kate Barbarics said.
Leaders at the center said the trees were growing on the property next door. They added that the unexpected removal happened twice over the past week. The operation has taken down about 20 trees and several mature shrugs along the fence line. ENC director Bo Glover said it happened as the kids were enjoying the outdoors.
"It hasn't been a happy new year for us," he said. "We'd like to try to block out the outside world as much as possible here so that the experience that our students and visitors are having is of the natural world and that vegetative matter is now gone."
Some of the natural fixtures removed were the old redwood and toyon trees that once lined the path next to the stream, where campers and countless schoolchildren have explored.
The Environmental Nature Center has been around for more than 50 years. The Newport Mesa School District owns the land. Glover said the staff has nurtured all of the trees and plants. The center's attorneys sent a cease and desist letter to the owner of the commercial property next door.
The last hope is to save an old oak tree. Staff at ENC overheard the trimming crews say they got others to come and take it down. However, it's unclear when that will happen.
The owner of the next-door property did not immediately respond to KCAL News' request for comment.
"To see these trees just chopped down," Glover, who likened himself to the Lorax from Dr. Seuss. "I had a meeting with staff this morning and I was telling myself don't cry and I'm an emotional guy. It means a lot."
