WAUWATOSA — The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office is investigating after roughly 100 newly planted trees were destroyed along the Menomonee River Parkway near Concordia Avenue in Wauwatosa.
The trees were donated and planted by volunteers, in partnership with Milwaukee County Parks and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, which funded the project. They were designed to reforest the area, help mitigate stormwater, and infiltrate pollution along the parkway.
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The sheriff's office says there was approximately $4,000 to $6,000 worth of damage left behind.
Sarah Long, the county's parks reforestation coordinator, said the destruction appeared to require significant effort.
"It obviously took a lot of effort to do what this person did. It's one thing to come over and kick over or rip out a tree, but somebody literally hand-sawed 100 different trees, and they did not take the wood with them; most of them were just kind of on the ground," she said.
Long said the project had been well received before the destruction.
"We've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the community here. Everybody really liked this tree planting, and the neighbors here understand that this is a pretty significant floodplain so…," she said.
Neighbor Kayla Gutsmidel said she was surprised someone would destroy a project she felt was designed to benefit both people and wildlife.
"It's disappointing because you hope that everyone is trying to be neighborly and do the best thing for everybody, and there's also a lot of wildlife around here. We see deer, there's plenty of turtles that live in the pond over here, and it's like you're ruining the home for them as well," she said.
Gutsmidel said she had seen the flooding in the area and understood the value of the trees.
"Having seen all of the flooding here last year and even earlier this year, it didn't get over the road, but there was still a lot, and I knew it would help everything."
This is not the first time something like this has happened. In November of last year, nearly 30 trees planted at Lyons Park on Milwaukee's south side were ripped out of the ground. Those trees have since been replanted.
Long said the county is already working on a plan to replant trees at the Wauwatosa site this fall.
"Yeah, they can't bring us down," she said.
If the person responsible is caught, the Sheriff's office said they could face fines of up to $10,000 and up to three-and-a-half years in prison, if convicted.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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