JEANERETTE — Thirteen oak trees along Louisiana 182 in Jeanerette that have been marked with orange ribbons for removal have property owners and Jeanerette residents fighting root and limb for the trees to be saved from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
The trees all lie between the parish line and Louisiana 670, a 4.7-mile stretch of highway Louisiana Scenic Byway. The trees, which are all located adjacent to the road, lie in the state-owned right-of-way, which gives the state the right to cut them down, said Deidra Druilhet, spokeswoman for DOTD’s Lafayette office.
“We have a proposed project that will be bid on early next year that will be rehabilitating (Louisiana) 182,” Druilhet said. “Whenever we do (these projects) we do a detailed safety assessment. We noticed an over-representation of crashes along this corridor.”
Several of the trees have been impacted by cars, are diseased or are improperly maintained, Druilhet said. The assessment called for the trees’ removal. DOTD has the responsibility to make the road as safe as possible, she said.
“One of the crashes we’ve seen quite a bit (on this road) are a run-off-the-road crashes,” she said. “Our main goal is to do anything we can do to reduce any type of crash, to enhance safety along the corridor.”
Lisa Estes, whose property touches the right ofway where one of the largest trees is located, saidshe disagrees with Druilhet.
“We’ve been here almost 30 years and I don’t know of any crashes that have been here,” Estes said. “Maybe little ones, but those had nothing to do with the trees.”
Asked about the large chunk missing from the bark in the tree in front of her yard, Estes said that a crash had occurred long before they moved into the house. She is trying to figure out what she can do to prevent the state from taking the tree. Estes, who only learned of the trees’ removal Wednesday morning, said she hates to see the trees go.
“It’s just sad to me. Ithink this one is really old. I don’t know what I can do,” she said. “It’s kind of like a canopy going over the highway. I’m from Mississippi, and you just don’t see this. The moss, the age, it’s just pretty. It’s a scenic highway. If they cut them down thenthere’s just nothing.”
Druilhet said although the department understands residents’ opposition to the removal, DOTD has a responsibility to the travelers on the road.
“These trees have been evaluated, and they do not possess any type of historical significance,” Druilhet said. “These trees are all about 150 years old or less. There’s a huge difference between Big Al and these trees. (Al) was on the historic registry and over 300 years old.”
Donovan Garcia, a volunteer at the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge, disagrees with the state’s estimated age of the trees, noting one of them is 15 feet in circumfrence. He also took issue with the way the DOTD informed the public.
“There was a public hearing. Only five or six people were there because it was inadequately posted,” he said. “The DOTD said it was not up for discussion. These trees are coming down. One of the attendees requested the ribbons be put on the trees so they would know which ones are being cut.”
The next day Garcia started getting phone calls from concerned property owners wondering what they could do. Garcia fears there’s not much they can do, he said.
“If those trees come down, why are we fighting for tourists?” he asked. “Why even have these scenic byways? A guard rail can save those trees. DOTD can save those trees. They don’t have to die.”