Playground trees, target of vandals, are planted anew
The pre-Arbor Day event last week at William Eustis Playground could not have been scripted better: The temperature surged to 85 degrees as Mayor Thomas M. Menino and 32 volunteers descended on the gritty corner of Roxbury to plant 50 red maples, swamp white oaks, and lindens.
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Almost half the new trees did not last a week. Vandals tore 18 saplings out of the ground, where a dog walker found them lying uprooted yesterday morning. The 4- to 8-foot-tall trees were just beginning to sprout buds.
"It's disappointing and frustrating," said city tree inspector Leif Fixen, who returned to the playground yesterday to replant the trees in 40-degree rain. "You try very hard to make a difference in a neighborhood, and somebody comes and rips them out."
None of the 18 trees appeared seriously damaged. With fresh topsoil and cedar mulch, Fixen and city tree warden Greg Mosman spent three hours yesterday digging new holes and replanting. Most of the 50 trees had been planted in grass behind the fence backstop of Clifford Field at the Eustis playground, which is across Massachusetts Avenue from the headquarters of the city Parks Department.
"People just don't realize the impact of their maliciousness," said Parks Department spokeswoman Mary Hines, who walked to the playground with an umbrella yesterday to inspect the damage. "To deliberately pull out 18 trees, I mean, come on."
Boston police are investigating the vandalism, but no witnesses have come forward, and no arrests have been made.
"Whoever is responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves," said Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "The Police Department is very interested in any information that would help us find the culprits."
Police have increased patrols around the playground, and officers will keep a watchful eye out for suspicious activity, Driscoll said.
"I was a little disappointed at first, but things happen in life," said Bill Shea, manager of the Home Depot in Watertown, who spearheaded the company's volunteer event. With the trees back in the ground, the Home Depot volunteers do not feel their effort was wasted, Shea said.
The planting at Clifford Field was sandwiched between Earth Day and Arbor Day, as Boston works toward its goal of growing 100,000 new trees by 2020. City officials expressed pride at the more than 2,300 trees added since Arbor Day 2007, a mark that surpassed the program's first-year goal of 2,000.
"We are not going to let this stand in our way," Hines said yesterday of the rainy replanting. "It's a blip on the screen.
"Those trees are back in the ground, and God is watering them right now." 