Crews began cutting down protected trees at Longfellow Elementary School on Monday, Sept. 28, as protesters gathered outside the campus on East Washington Boulevard.

The removals mark the end of a weeks-long standoff between Pasadena Unified School District and community advocates who argued the district never gave the century-old trees a fair chance at survival. Protesters hung a sign facing the boulevard that read "Tree Killers," the Pasadena Star-News reported.

Six protected trees on Longfellow's front lawn, including deodar cedars described as more than 100 years old, sat at the center of the dispute. Post-Eaton Fire soil testing revealed elevated lead levels in the root zones. PUSD used air knifing, a technique that uses compressed air and vacuum excavation, to try to remove contaminated soil without harming the trees. According to district records, crews dug as deep as one foot in some spots, but lead levels remained elevated.

A California Department of Toxic Substances Control letter dated Aug. 31 concluded that a significant quantity of contaminated soil remained and that standard excavation requiring tree removal would be necessary.

Advocates challenged that conclusion. Jessica Richards, a member of Pasadena's Urban Forestry Advisory Committee and vice president of the Bungalow Heaven Landmark District, said the district never brought in a second qualified arborist to attempt a different approach.

"I am just devastated to hear this news about the iconic trees at Longfellow… Because a second attempt with a qualified arborist experienced in doing this work was never pursued, I don't accept the claim that there is no possible other solution but a chainsaw," Richards said.

The path to Monday's chainsaws wound through several reversals. PUSD announced the removals on Aug. 31, then paused them days later and pledged a "fresh look." On Sept. 23, a district statement said removals remained on hold and that PUSD would share results once its review concluded. Two days later, on Sept. 25, the district announced removals would begin the following week and attached an updated arborist report. The district said the additional review did not change the central finding: excavation to remove contaminated soil would compromise the trees' root systems.

Advocates say PUSD never publicly shared the reassessment results it promised. Whether the updated arborist report constitutes that promised disclosure is disputed.

The day before the Sept. 25 announcement, the PUSD Board of Education voted in closed session to explore bioremediation at Blair High School and the district's main office to spare trees there. The district said bioremediation was not feasible at Longfellow because of higher lead concentrations and the requirements of the state-overseen cleanup.

Nina Raj, founder of the Altadena Seed Library and an organizer with Friends of PUSD Trees, said in a Sept. 25 text message published by the Star-News that the district had not exhausted its options. She urged PUSD to reconsider, noting students are not attending Longfellow this year.

Longfellow students are spending the school year at Allendale Elementary during a $37.9 million bond-funded modernization of the campus. That vacancy allowed PUSD to press ahead with removals while other campuses halted tree work when students returned in August.

Over the summer, PUSD cut down more than 100 trees across several sites as part of the broader soil remediation effort. The district's original plan, announced in May, called for removing nearly 200 trees at 11 campuses. Friends of PUSD Trees has estimated the project's cost to taxpayers at $6.6 million.

A trial setting conference in the legal dispute between the city and the district over tree-removal authority is scheduled for Oct. 30 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Judge Joseph Lipner issued a preliminary injunction on Aug. 5 barring Pasadena from enforcing its tree protection ordinance against the district's remediation work at nine campuses, including Longfellow, pending trial.