UA moving four giant trees

Four giant Aleppo pine trees are being moved Saturday,  May 5, to make room for expanded athletic facilities at the University of Arizona.

Les Shipley from Civano Nursery, said a crane will arrive around 6 a.m.

He estimates the first of the 65-foot trees will be airborne around 8 a.m.

More details of the move can be found at http://uanews.org

Projects this large don't happen often, and this will be the second-largest tree moving event in U.S. history, according to Libby Davison, director of the UA Campus Arboretum.

The trees were transplanted out of the ground near McKale Center and into 13-foot boxes several weeks ago.

A 250-ton crane will move the 50-foot tall, 90,000-pound boxed trees to their new home just to the west where they will frame a new plaza.

Once part of a neighborhood that gave way to campus expansion decades ago, the four trees are worth an estimated $100,000.

Civano Nursery is in charge of the move, which has been enthusiastically supported by the Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association, the Campus Arboretum, and the many "players" involved in the Intercollegiate Athletic expansion project.

The UA handled a similar project in 1990 when it moved a large pine tree several blocks along Speedway Boulevard from the Computer Center to the Warren Avenue pedestrian underpass, part of the widening project for Speedway.

About a year ago, Civano successfully moved a large, old hackberry tree on the site of the Highland Parking Garage into the adjoining neighborhood.

For more information, contact Davison, director of the arboretum and a lecturer in the UA plant sciences department, at 520-621-1582, or e-mail edavison@ag.arizona.edu