Are healthy Chicago trees getting the ax?

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some Chicagoans have noticed city workers cutting down seemingly healthy trees. Who is responsible, and why are they cutting down these trees?

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're already a WBEZ member, thank you.
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0:07.0	If every high fidelity member increase their monthly gift by just $3 or more,
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0:23.5	Start or increase your monthly gift by $3 today at WBEZ.org slash donate.
0:31.4	It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region, and investigate.
0:37.4	Report. Explore. And investigate. Report.
0:38.1	Explore.
0:38.9	From WBEZ.
0:42.1	What's up, Chicago?
0:43.3	I'm Erin Allen, and this is Curious City.
0:46.8	It's finally getting warm and staying warm in Chicago, thank goodness.
0:51.6	So you might be spending more time outside enjoying the city's
0:54.9	green spaces.
0:56.7	If you're like me, that means going for a walk, listening to the wind, blowing through the
1:00.8	beautiful tree canopy above.
1:03.7	It can feel like being in a forest, right here in the middle of Chicago.
1:08.6	But sometimes the city cuts down those trees, even if they appear to be healthy.
1:13.8	Why is that?
1:15.6	Andrew Meriwether hunts down the answer.
1:19.9	Sam Schuker often walks his three dogs around his Lakeview neighborhood.
	...

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