SALT LAKE CITY — About 175 trees in the Fairpark area of Salt Lake City are dying because of a mistake made in October. Now, officials are taking responsibility and say they are trying to fix it.
“We're those folks who try to take care of and protect these trees, so it’s sad to have to report that we made a mistake," said Toby Hazelbaker, the parks division director for Salt Lake City Public Lands.
About a month and a half ago, residents and city officials noticed something was wrong with some of the trees along North Temple islands from Redwood Road to 700 West, and 300 West islands from 900 North to 600 North.
Hazelbaker said back in October, a certified spraying technician used the wrong herbicide — which ended up poisoning a type of tree.
"A variety called a leguminous tree, and this particular spray that we used shouldn't be used around that type of decorative tree," Hazelbaker said. "However, it is commonly used around other brushy and invasive species, like thistle and Russian olive, so it is common in our inventory to use this, it just wasn't the right place."
Some of the trees are full of leaves and standing tall, but the herbicide killed the others.
Hazelbaker said they are working on a temporary solution to help bring shade to one of the hottest parts of the city.
"We're currently testing and awaiting results of how much of the herbicide remains, but an idea or two has come up where we can plant trees into large, medium-sized planters, restore some of the shade," he said.
They have new steps in place as well to help prevent this from happening again.
"We've instituted a double-fail-safe system where supervisors and even ops managers have to be part of the process of checking out herbicides, of the mixing, and the application, so that this doesn't happen again,” added Hazelbaker.
People in the area said they just want the shade and beauty back, and they are looking forward to seeing how these ideas play out.
