Tree activists rally, seeking to save a giant red cedar in Wedgwood from the ax.
Luma is a healthy old growth Western red cedar in the Wedgwood neighborhood of Seattle with cultural and ecological significance, but it’s under threat of destruction. Luma is currently under an order for removal by the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) so that a developer – Legacy Group Capital based in Bellevue – can build six market-rate houses. Unsurprisingly, people living in the neighborhood are trying to prevent this, with activists currently camped out 40 feet above ground in the tree — halfway up the 80-foot tree.
Some attempt to make the case that people speaking out against ecologically destructive development are anti-density ‘Not In My Backyard’ (NIMBY) activists and don’t care about housing justice, but that argument is plain false. Urban forest and climate activists widely recognize the importance of affordable housing, and rightly point out that loss of urban tree cover affects us all.
In Luma’s case, an independent architect recently concluded that the site could have been designed differently to preserve the tree while still allowing the six homes to be built. While Luma is in a relatively canopy-rich area of North Seattle, cutting it down would set a bad precedent that threatens large trees across the city. Some neighborhoods have precious few large trees to spare.
