Army Corps of Engineeers: Permits sought to replace Gen. de Gaulle trees

When the federally funded drainage improvement project began on the Gen. de Gaulle canal years ago, the contractor removed 271 trees along the neutral ground between Wall Boulevard and Berhman Place.

More than half of those trees were crape myrtles, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District told Algiers residents during an August 2024 meeting held to announce the second phase of the $550 million drainage improvement project that’s currently underway.

The agency suggested during that meeting at the Algiers Regional Public Library that movement toward planting new trees could begin in the Fall of 2024. That hasn’t happened.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is assuring residents that the trees will be replaced as part of its “greenspace restoration” plan.

The agency is working with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to obtain “a vegetation permit and is making plans to plant trees during the next growing season,” the New Orleans District told Our Streets NOLA in a statement on June 14. Further details were not provided.

The “optimal planting window,” according to the Corps of Engineers, is Nov. 1 through March 15, the agency told Algiers residents last year.

Generally, according to the LSU AgCenter, the optional tree growing season is November through February. The LSU AgCenter is not involved in the greenspace restoration plan. Read an AgCenter report here.

At the August 2024 Algiers meeting to announce the second phase of the drainage improvement project that’s now underway, officials provided a detailed inventory of the trees that were removed. Whether there’ll be a tree-for-tree replacement remains to be seen.

Of the 271 trees that were removed, 152 were crape myrtles, 48 were bald cypresses and 27 were red oaks, according to the Corps of Engineers.

Trees also were removed for the project’s second phase that began late last year to harden the canal with a concrete “flume” between Behrman Place and the canal’s confluence with the Algiers Outfall Canal.

During this phase, Holiday Drive’s James W. Hibben Memorial Bridge over the drainage canal will be closed and eventually demolished.

Click here to read our look at the namesake for the James W. Hibben Memorial Bridge.