District cuts down on costs

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has been removing trees from school grounds for the last several years, eliminating ones that are too old, too close to the schools or in the way of sewerage lines.

The district also felled timber over the recent break at California and Rea elementary schools. Tim Marsh, Newport-Mesa’s facilities director, said it was cheaper to plant new trees than to pay to maintain the old ones.

“Do you spend money to repair the sewers every three months, or do you have the tree removed?” Marsh said. “Often, the cost-effective thing is to remove the tree.”