News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz Contractors hired by the City of Alpena work on cutting down trees at Mich-e-ke-wis Park on Thursday. City officials say the trees have been unhealthy for some time, and the recent ice storm caused severe damage to them that made them a threat to public safety.

ALPENA — The recent ice storm in Alpena took a heavy toll on many trees at Mich-e-ke-wis Park that were already in poor health, and it forced the city to cut many of them down on Thursday.

Alpena officials say the trees had become a threat to public safety, and although they didn’t want to, they felt the only avenue to take to protect people from falling branches and large sections of tree stumps was to have them removed.

As the contractor was cutting the trees down, concerned citizens flocked to the lakeside park to try to limit the number of trees that were being taken down. At least one concerned citizen said while livestreaming on Facebook Live from the scene that he was going to tie himself to a tree to prevent crews from cutting it down.

City Engineer Steve Shultz said the city is not happy about having to take such drastic action, but it needed to be done to make sure nobody gets injured or killed if one of the large trees or limbs gives way.

“It’s unfortunate, and we are sick to our stomach about it,” Shultz said. “When it comes to trees, we always use the three Ds when making a decision about them. Are they dead, dying, or dangerous, and unfortunately, they are.”

Eric Peterson, who was trying to work with the city to help save some of the trees, said he believed the city was moving too quickly to remove the trees and not considering any long-term repercussions that could occur after the trees are gone. Peterson said he will work with the city to bring in and plant more trees to help revitalize the park.

“This is a park that is used daily by the community to use for shade, enjoy the lake, and if we cut all these trees down, we are left with a hot, empty field,” Peterson said. “That isn’t going to look very pretty. This is very painful.”

Shultz said city staff talked with an arborist who was at the park and they agreed with the city’s assessment of the health of the trees.

To some people, the trees, which are beginning to have some green shoots sprouting from parts of the trees, may look perfectly healthy.

Shultz said that isn’t the case, as other sections of the trees are dead or dying, and it is just a matter of time before they reach the point of no return.

Shultz added that just cutting parts of the trees that are unhealthy on one side sets the stage for the tree to collapse unexpectedly.

“There are only about two feet of wet sand under those trees and then rock, and if we only cut one side, they will fall,” he said. “We really don’t enjoy taking down trees, but it is a public safety issue.”

Shultz said he wasn’t sure how many trees were scheduled to be cut down, but he said there were seven clusters of trees that needed to be removed. He did not specify how many trees were in an average cluster.

Mich-e-ke-wis Park may not be the only park where some trees may need to be removed, Shultz said. He said there are at least two trees at Duck Park and possibly another pair at Washington Avenue Park. Shultz added that an assessment of the trees at the other city-owned parks is ongoing.

Just a week before the recent ice storm hit, the city had a series of trees from the roadside on 9th Avenue, and there was public outcry. Over the years, there have been instances where trees in that area have come down during thunderstorms and other high-wind weather events and blocked the road and landed in people’s yards. Shultz said if those trees hadn’t been removed, they surely would have fallen from the weight of the ice from the ice storm and caused a headache for people and put them at risk.

“There is no doubt in our minds those trees would have come down,” he said. “Like I said, we don’t enjoy doing this, but public safety has to be our top priority.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.