BATON ROUGE - A number of trees were chopped down Tuesday afternoon as the State Department of Transportation makes way for more lanes on I-10 West between Perkins and the City Park Lake bridge.

Most of the trees removed were deemed "insignificant" by the state, and the land was needed for a 24-foot sound wall that will soon go up. Historic Live Oaks along the interstate, like one on Ebony Avenue, will be preserved but may lose some branches.

"My understanding is they're trying to do their best to preserve the significant trees and in some cases, they're going to do some pruning and hopefully protect those during construction," said Sage Foley, Executive Director of Baton Rouge Green.

Foley didn't have much say in the trees that were cut down today on Baywood Avenue because they belonged to DOTD. However, Baton Rouge Green manages more than 4,000 trees in public right of way areas around the city.

In 2021, hundreds of trees at the I-10/I-12 split were cut down for the construction of the College Drive flyover. Those belonged to Baton Rouge Green, and were planted more than two decades ago.

"They had to remove 256 mature Live Oaks that we had been taking care of for over 20 years. We planted those around the year 2000 and that was actually the second time we had planted the 10/12 split."

The value of those trees stemmed beyond aesthetic value, and years ago, Foley argued that point with DOTD. In an unusual turn of events, the state agreed and settled on reimbursement at a two to one ratio. 

That means for every tree that comes down, two more will eventually be planted. 

"We will plant over 500 trees at the 10/12 split and possibly adjacent interchanges depending on how we can fit in the space once it's completed," Foley said.

While construction on the College Flyover won't be complete until mid 2024, the deal has planted a seed of hope in Foley's mind. The new trees will be planted in phases to ensure their survival. 

"We're going to plant all native species and we're going to try to create a little biodiversity in those areas."

As the I-10 widening project continues, Foley hopes the state will follow that two-to-one formula when more trees are inevitably chopped. Currently, she's waiting for exact numbers from the state before negotiations continue.