Judge halts tree cutting at Washington golf course

A federal judge halted tree cutting at a Washington, D.C., golf course and rebuked Justice Department lawyers Monday after hundreds of trees were felled over the weekend with little warning during a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s plans for the site.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes extended a temporary order barring the National Park Service from cutting any more trees at East Potomac Golf Links, including for routine maintenance, until 2 p.m. Tuesday. She said she would also require the Justice Department to give her three days’ notice before any further action at the course.

“Ignorance is not an excuse here,” Reyes told a government lawyer during a nearly four-hour virtual hearing. She said the government had “lost credibility” and pressed officials on why the work went ahead Saturday.

The Justice Department notified the court shortly before 5 p.m. Friday that tree clearing would start the next day as part of a “tree management and cultural landscape rehabilitation project.” Kevin Griess, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said in a declaration that crews would first remove 169 trees, followed by 90 more, with an estimated 529 removals in all.

Lawyers for the D.C. Preservation League, which is suing alongside two golfers to challenge Trump’s plans for East Potomac, said in a Sunday court filing that crews had instead cut down all 529 trees Saturday, including “healthy, mature oaks and maples.” At Monday’s hearing, Reyes questioned Griess about the felling of 430 trees. Griess said those trees had not been identified as hazardous or a safety concern, CBS News reported. The Justice Department said roughly 99 more trees had been marked for removal.

The preservation group sought emergency relief after government lawyers told it the work was moving “faster than anticipated,” according to court papers. The administration also told the group that hundreds more trees would be felled imminently, though rain affected Sunday’s plans. Reyes wrote that plaintiffs were likely to face “immediate and irreparable harm” without preliminary relief: “The removal of hundreds of trees from East Potomac golf course is permanent.”

Griess testified that he submitted the tree-management plan Oct. 5 and received approval the next day. He said it followed a 2019 report recommending restoration of the course’s original links-style landscape, with rough grasslands and fewer trees between fairways. Both Griess and another National Park Service official, Frank Lands, told the judge there was no urgency to remove the trees Saturday.

The preservation group disputes the administration’s reliance on that report. Its lawyers argue that the tree cutting is part of a broader overhaul and that dividing the work into smaller projects skirts federal requirements to assess environmental effects. Reyes questioned officials about who authorized the weekend operation but did not resolve the dispute Monday.