I completely agree with writer Tracy Hendershott’s letter in the May 2 issue of the Reporter about large tree removal being a detriment to bird nesting and destroying the nesting of squirrels and raccoons.

For many years I have lived next to a 15,000-square-foot plus vacant lot, and while I’ve had the bounty of unwanted Cottonwood leaves and alder leaves on my property every fall, I have also been privileged to see a mother raccoon instruct her young to climb a 20 to 30 foot cherry tree and have seen the family of raccoons come to my man-made pond in the evening.

As of last fall, all trees on this property have been removed, including a grove of four Western Red Cedars and three Douglass Firs, all mature trees 40- to 50-foot tall. It was a total clearcut.

Now there are two 3,000-square-foot homes selling for $800,000 to $900,000 each on this lot. Kirkland talks about replacing trees that they remove for development… a vine maple, nice, but it can’t compare with the 30-year-old Western Red Cedars or Douglass Firs.

This developer, and other developers, in Kirkland have purchased several properties to build, and if there are large firs on the property, they will be gone.

So sad for Kirkland that it is all for the tax income and not the environment that we used to live in.

Karin Ferguson, Kirkland