<p>A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from removing any more trees at the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., until October 26.</p>
<p>Judge Ana C. Reyes, a district judge for the District of Columbia appointed by President Biden, issued the temporary restraining order on Tuesday, following the Trump administration's removal of hundreds of trees over the weekend from the golf course that President Trump is seeking to renovate. An emergency filing from the DC Preservation League on Sunday regarding the tree removals led to a hearing on Monday morning, during which Reyes criticized the Department of Justice lawyers, stating that the removals “cost the government all of its credibility” in the lawsuit.</p>
<p>Reyes had issued a one-day temporary restraining order early Monday morning ahead of the hearing, and her Tuesday order extends that ban for two weeks.</p>
<p>The order specifies that until the end of the day on October 26, the Trump administration “must provide the Court and Plaintiffs three business days’ written advance notice before making any irreparable modification to any permanent form or feature of the East Potomac Golf Course.”</p>
<p>The DC Preservation League, which is suing the Trump administration over its planned changes to the course, stated in its Sunday filing that the National Park Service removed 529 trees from the property over the weekend, while DOJ attorneys testified that the park service only removed 430 trees, according to the Washington Sun.</p>
<p>In response to an inquiry from the Washington Examiner on Monday about the number of trees removed, an Interior Department spokesperson stated that the work is part of the agency’s “required stewardship of the park.” The spokesperson also noted that no cherry blossom trees would be affected by the work.</p>
<p>Reyes had previously informed the DOJ in May during a separate status conference that it would need to notify the court in advance if the park service intended to remove more than 10 trees from the property.</p>
<p>The spokesperson for the Interior Department mentioned that the National Park Service is implementing a 7-year-old plan to address tree overgrowth at the East Potomac Golf Course, which includes selective tree and vegetation work to restore the course.</p>
<p>Kevin Griess, superintendent of the park service’s National Mall and Memorial Parks sector, indicated in a court filing prior to the removals that the agency planned to eliminate no more than 529 trees as part of a park maintenance and cultural landscaping project, stating that the trees “do not contribute to the historic landscape.”</p>
<p>Griess also assured that “no healthy trees that are contributing features of the historical golf course (such as healthy, historic cherry trees) will be removed as part of this project.”</p>
<p>DOJ attorneys argued in their notice to the court that the National Park Service’s “restoration activities are a separate agency decision” and are distinct from the course renovation issue at hand in the case.</p>