By Luisa Loi
La Conner Community News
The Town of La Conner will plant 40 trees at three different locations to make up for the loss of 22 trees from the marina.
These locations include the gravel parking lot on Moore Street, the Swinomish Channel Waterfront Park and First Street. The soil will be prepped beginning this fall to receive the trees in the fall of 2027, according to a report from arborist James Barborinas.
In March, the Planning Commission approved the Port of Skagit’s class III permit application to remove the plants along E. Pearl Jensen Way and Fisherman Road — within the port industrial zone — to make space for Mavrik Marine’s 165-foot-long ferries as they move from the production facility to the launch site.
The trees planned for removal are nonnative Scots and Austrian pines that are at least 30 years old and show significant damage and limb loss, posing a safety risk for people and property, and their roots have damaged the pavement, as previously reported on La Conner Community News.
Planning Director Ajah Eills said she does not know yet when the removal will happen.
According to Barborinas, all three sites require different types and levels of soil and site preparation, with the latter taking “considerable time” to ensure the trees can grow long-term.
The Port will donate all of the trees.
The City Hall parking lot, located on Moore, is the top priority for tree planting as there are only two birch trees, one of which is in decline and the other is expected to follow suit soon due to the infestation of the birch borer, a native beetle that has been causing major impacts on this species across the Pacific Northwest, according to Washington State University. The Town will remove both, planting instead 13 Persian ironwoods and 10 black tupelos.
Waterfront Park also presents some dead or dying trees as well as open spots for additional greenery. Here, the arborist recommends planting five shore pines and five salt-tolerant landscape trees — one bald cypress, one river birch, one maidenhair tree, one redpointe maple and one firehouse sweetgum.
While several trees on North First Street are in “poor condition,” Barborinas identified seven spots that are empty or have trees in poor condition. Here, he recommends planting seven American hornbeams, replacing two flowering crab trees and one flowering plum tree.
The Planning Commission will discuss updating tree-related provisions in La Conner’s municipal code in 2027. The last update was passed in 1995.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
Top photo by Nancy K. Crowell/La Conner Community News
