News Release

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Task Force Guardian
Contact: Kim Gillespie 504- 862-2076
April 19, 2006

Tree removal to improve hurricane protection integrity

NEW ORLEANS-The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Task Force Guardian
will begin cutting trees later this month along the 17th Street,
Orleans Avenue and London Avenue outfall canals; the Inner Harbor
Navigation Canal; and the Lake Pontchartrain lakefront in Orleans and
Jefferson Parishes.

The removal of trees and woody plants is part of the repair
effort and is necessary to help insure the integrity of the hurricane
protection system. Trees blowing over and uprooting during a
hurricane or tropical storm may remove large amounts of soil from the
levee or its toe, or fall on a floodwall, damaging and weakening the
system and introducing the risk of failure.

Trees located on or adjacent to a levee or floodwall pose an
additional risk to the integrity of the system by providing a pathway
for water to work its way into the levees. Their extensive root
systems can serve as pathways for seepage, particularly after they
die and their root systems begin to decay.

The trees will be removed in phases. The first phase of the
effort will focus on cutting and removing trees and woody plants on
the water side of the canals, and within the known levee and
floodwall rights-of-way. As additional rights-of-way are
established, trees within 15 feet of the levee toe may be removed to
insure the integrity of, and prevent damage to the system. Uprooted
trees will be removed, their holes filled in, smoothed and cultivated
with grass. Generally, the stump will remain. An estimated 850
landowners will be affected by the tree removal effort. Efforts will
be made to contact those owners, and notices will be published in the
newspaper.

During the next phase the contractors will remove the stump
and root system, fill and grade the holes, and reseed. The Corps is
reviewing its criteria for root-free and vegetation-free zones, and
changes in that criteria may result in the need to acquire additional
rights-of-way and cutting of additional trees.

Residents or media with questions concerning tree removal
should contact Task Force Guardian toll-free at 1-866-830-5038.