Vandal saws down 18 new red oak trees along Appleway Trail

Red oak trees were supposed to provide shade and beauty to a barren stretch of the Appleway Trail in Spokane Valley.

Instead, 18 of the newly planted trees were snapped in an apparent act of vandalism over the weekend.

The trees were planted a week ago as part of the Spokane Conservation District’s CoolCanopy Program, which is designed to increase tree canopy coverage in underserved communities in Spokane County, said Garth Davis, forestry program manager at the district.

The Lands Council partners with the district to plant the trees as part of CoolCanopy.

“It doesn’t make me happy,” Davis said about the vandalism. “But we’re gonna plant 2,000 trees a year in these underserved communities in Spokane County. And this isn’t unexpected. It’s not something we want to see, but we knew we’d deal with a certain amount of this kind of vandalism.”

Davis said the 18 trees were planted just east of Bowdish Road along the Appleway Trail, a paved pedestrian path that runs parallel to Sprague Avenue. He said the trees were sawed part way through the thin trunks and then pulled over.

He said the trees started to turn red and stood out in the flat landscape along the trail.

“They were really cool looking,” Davis said.

Jill Smith, communications manager for the city of Spokane Valley, said the city, conservation district, Lands Council and volunteers came together this past spring to plant hundreds of trees in the region, including on the Appleway Trail.

About 300 trees were planted this year along the trail between Bowdish and University roads, Davis said.

Smith said the city was made aware Monday morning that a handful of the trees appeared to have been vandalized, so the agency made a police report.

Cpl. Mark Gregory, spokesman for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, said no one has been arrested. He asked that anyone with information about the broken trees call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

The damaged trees, which cost about $9,000 to purchase and plant, have since been removed, Davis said.

Davis said they will continue planting trees along the trail, but will temporarily halt efforts in the area the trees were damaged to avoid more potential vandalism. The trees will eventually be replaced in that section, he said.