Vandals rip up 18 new trees in Roxbury

(David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

Greg Mosman, the city's tree warden, replanted one of the trees today at the Clifford Playground.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Vandals tore up 18 new trees that had been planted last week in a playground in an industrial corner of Roxbury.

A dog walker found the red maples and white swamp oaks this morning lying on the ground at the Clifford Playground. The 4- to 8-foot tall saplings were in a grove of 50 trees planted Wednesday by volunteers from the Home Depot Foundation. It was part of the city’s effort to plant 100,000 new trees in Boston by 2020.

“It’s disappointing and frustrating,” said city tree inspector Leif Fixen, who returned to the park today to replant the trees in a cold rain. “You try very hard to make a difference in a neighborhood and somebody comes and rips them out.”

Clifford Playground is a splash of green grass in the Newmarket Industrial Park, a neighborhood dominated by red brick factories and blacktop parking lots surrounded by chain-link fences and razor wire. The playground on Shirley Street is across from the headquarters of the city Park Department on Massachusetts Avenue.

“People just don’t realize the impact of their maliciousness,” said Parks Department spokeswoman Mary Hines, who walked to the park with an umbrella today to inspect the damage. “To deliberately pull out 18 trees, I mean, come on.”

None of the 18 trees sustained serious damage. With some fresh top soil and cedar mulch, all were replanted and upright by this afternoon.

“We are not going to let this stand in our way,” Hines said of the city’s effort to plant 100,000 trees. “It’s a blip on the screen. Those trees are back in the ground and God is watering them right now.”

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