PORT ANGELES — Several old-growth trees in Lincoln Park and surrounding airport property will be felled in August to comply with Federal Aviation Administration rules for aircraft approach zones.
William R. Fairchild International Airport Manager Jeff Robb has outlined the need for removing the trees to the city Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission meeting.
In short, several of the trees have grown too tall to comply with federal regulations governing the approach of both private planes and airliners using the airport.
“It’s my obligation to protect the airport’s airspace. We don’t take this lightly,” Robb told the parks commissioners last week.
“I’m sensitive to Lincoln Park’s old-growth Douglas fir.”
Robb said a survey to identify the trees will be done in about a month and could be presented to the City Council by its June 21 meeting.
Whether to top the trees or remove them is the city’s decision, he said.
The trees to be removed will be identified and their value determined so the city can be compensated, Robb said.
After the trees are felled, the area will be cleaned up and reseeded, he added.
The work probably would be done in August and take about 1½ weeks, depending on the number of trees, Robb said.
Federal grant
The Port of Port Angeles, which operates Fairchild, will pay for it using a federal grant with a 5 percent local match, he said.
The airport removed trees from Lincoln Park and surrounding airport property in 1996 because the fir had grown into the airport’s “approach zone minimums,” Robb said.
Then in 2002, the FAA warned that seven more trees had grown into those zones and had to be removed, he said.
Robb said the FAA makes its decisions using information from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Consultant John Yarnish from URS Corp. of Seattle said the airport’s approach zones must be clear so planes can circle to make another approach at the runway.
When the trees are surveyed this time, they will identify not just those in the approach zone but also those within five feet of the zone, Yarnish said.
Trees in environmentally sensitive areas will be cut down and left to serve as wildlife habitat, he said.