Population growth, not trees, threatens our quality of life

Your coverage on urban tree-cutting is timely. It has to do with how we live and how we would like to live. While aware of urban growth boundaries surges, it is suggested that one of the culprits might be trees (Ken Nolan's comments in your Nov. 23 article). It would seem that expanding populations are the real threat. And that's a threat we must plan for, reckon with and not blame trees any more than we are inclined to blame sea lions for diminishing salmon runs. The writer Tom Robbins had a passage in one of his Northwest books which said of men who manipulate the environment, "perhaps they suffered that secret shame; like those men who break horses and dam rivers." We might, to that, add another category. Though Mr. Nolan states that "it's an inefficient use of land to save trees," efficiency usually does not consider comfort, aesthetics and the well-being of the citizenry.

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