After news reports emerged Monday morning that the National Park Service had cut down as many as 500 trees at East Potomac Golf Links, we at Washingtonian had lots of questions. Who approved the work? How were so many trees cut down so quickly? And, given the course was open—what did the golfers think of all this? We hustled down to investigate.
A rainy weekend had left East Potomac in a soggy state, and humidity hung in the air. But the Columbus Day crowd was sizable, and each drive seemed struck like an act of defiance.
After all, these were historic times to be golfing there. The beloved if slightly run-down course at East Potomac Park became a battleground starting in June, when noted golf enthusiast Donald Trump announced plans to raze the modest links and turn it into a place capable of hosting professional championships.
Locals greeted the announcement with equal parts annoyance and anger. The White House had already moved a massive mound of debris created by Trump’s ballroom construction onto the golf course; the debris recently tested positive for lead. After hearing of the planned East Potomac renovation, area golfers and the D.C. Preservation League sued the Trump administration to stop them. In September, US District Judge Ana Reyes allowed the work to proceed, but directed the Trump administration to inform the court before any major changes took place, including whenever the NPS planned to chop down more than 10 trees.
Late Friday afternoon, the NPS surprised the court with an affidavit: It would remove 529 trees which “do not contribute to the historic landscape” of East Potomac, beginning the following day. Healthy trees, including the course’s famous cherry blossoms, would go untouched, the department said. Nonetheless, some 169 trees were to be felled Saturday, with 90 more coming shortly afterward. NPS did not reply to a request for comment from Washingtonian.
Within 12 hours, the deforestation began, and by Monday, stumps, logs, and branches could be seen scattered around the outskirts of the course. Other, living trunks had yellow construction tape tied around them, signaling they were next on the chopping block.
Both the plaintiffs and Judge Reyes condemned the move. The plaintiffs argued that the notice, submitted at 4:55 PM the Friday before a three-day weekend, gave them no time to respond. They also asserted that NPS had cut down over 500 trees at the course, rather than the promised 169, healthy oaks and maples among them. Reyes directed NPS Monday morning to stop their operations for at least a day. “I am thoroughly unamused right now,” she said. “I do not know how I could have made it any plainer that I did not want what was to happen to happen.”
The response out on the links was similarly aggrieved.
“Just another Trump grift,” golfer Ryan Alcorn said. “You really don’t trust them to do anything for the general public. I’m hopeful for the midterms to put a pause on some of this, but frankly, we’ll be fighting them all the way to 2028.”
While some golfers said they’d like to see less overgrowth and weeds on the course, no one interviewed expressed support for the new construction. Nor did anyone we spoke to have issues with the trees. “Of all the complaints I had about the course,” said one golfer who asked to be identified as Danny H, “I wasn’t like, ‘This needs fewer trees.’ ”
The main worry for golfers is that Trump’s renovations will lead to East Potomac becoming more expensive, or transitioning to a private club. “It’s cheap to play here, and [renovations are] just going to increase the price,” said one local high school student. Asked whether he supported the tree removal, another teenager replied, “Not at all. This should remain a public course. My grandpa grew up playing here.”
The NPS’s court filings say the tree removal doesn’t have anything to do with President Trump’s desire to overhaul the course, and instead represents routine maintenance. “The National Park Service is finally implementing a 7-year-old plan to address tree overgrowth at East Potomac Golf Course,” the Interior Department told CNN in a statement.
Early Monday afternoon, an NPS maintenance worker, whose name Washingtonian is withholding for privacy, stood in the shade of the public restrooms, pondering the stumps of four willows nearby. “I have nothing to do with this,” he said of the tree removal. “I ain’t no ranger. But why are you cutting those out?” He gestured to the stumps.
He said the park had received an influx of workers who seemed to be from other states and who had done most of the chopping. He also said he didn’t think the NPS had possibly gotten rid of over 500 trees in one day, as the Preservation League has claimed. “That’s too many trees to cut that quick,” he said.
The worker, who has worked at NPS a long time, seemed to have developed a stoic attitude toward the course and its future. “As long as they don’t touch the cherry trees,” he said, “I don’t care what they do.”
