Trees on Shepard Road in St. Paul were vandalized for the second time in less than a year.
Someone cut 32 trees in half along the road, south of the High Bridge. The city wrote in a Facebook post that it found out about the trees Friday morning.
The trees were planted in partnership with Tree Trust last fall. In November 2024, a different group of 60 trees, also planted with Tree Trust, were uprooted on the same road but near Upper Landing Park and the Sam Morgan Regional Trail. Most were tossed into the Mississippi River.
St. Paul Parks and Recreation spokesperson Clare Cloyd said the city has filed a police report and asks that anyone with information on the vandalism report it.
“A mass vandalism of this nature is not very common,” she said. “They were all sliced, so we took down the canopy parts, and we’ll have to go back and [take out] the full stumps.”
Cloyd said the trees were “actively being watered and cared for” by the city. There is no funding to plant new trees, she said, but the parks and recreation team is looking for ways to replace the saplings.
Ramsey County and St. Paul split the cost of replacing last year’s vandalized trees. Cloyd said the city is “pretty disappointed” in the vandalism.
“The trees help with the environment and beautification of our city,” Cloyd said. “We have an incredible urban canopy, and it’s unfortunate when an act of vandalism causes the trees to be removed.”
