By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The trees really do need to come out.

That’s the consensus of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the 74 trees along the Big Creek dike marked for removal as repairs to the levee get underway this week.

Hays Assistant Public Works Director John Braun said Tuesday morning “the plan is to continue with the plan as designed and approved by the engineers to minimize the risk to the public and to property that the levee does protect (from flooding) so that does involve moving the trees.”

Braun and Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty did pass along an alternate solution suggested at last week’s city commission meeting by Hays resident Randy Rodgers, a retired KDWP wildlife biologist.

Rodgers’ idea was to dig a trench between the trees and the levee, shear off the tree roots, then put a impermeable barrier in the trench so the roots would not grow back into the levee.

Dougherty explained the city must meet certain conditions, including recommended tree removals, “in order to qualify for the Corps program which essentially insures the levy in case of a catastrophic event.”

The dike area will not remain nearly treeless.

According to Braun, the city will “definitely be replanting more trees than we actually take out.  They will be placed outside the area of the influence of the levy … beyond a 15-foot buffer.”

Braun said work on the Big Creek levee system is scheduled to begin this week.  J Corp and M&D Excavating will do the repairs first followed by construction of a ten-foot wide concrete path from Main Street east to Allen Street.

In early April, Bryant & Bryant Construction, Halstead, will construct the mile-long portion of the concrete path from Main Street west through the Fort Hays State University campus to East Eighth.