DPW plans to remove, cut trees along Missouri Avenue

Official Statements

• Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, November 12: “FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — A contracting team with the Fort Leonard Wood Directorate of Public Works is scheduled to begin work this month to cut and remove trees “that have died, are in decline, or impede maintenance and other aesthetics” along both sides of Missouri Avenue, according to officials.”

• Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, November 12: “The planned work is expected to start “a few hundred feet north of the Sverdrup Visitor Center and continue along the blue line for almost three miles to Fire Station No. 1 at Alabama and Virginia avenues,” said William Davenport, DPW’s landscape architect. During the project, Davenport said there should be no impact on traffic.”

• Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, November 12: “Motorists and pedestrians on Missouri Avenue, and, for short connecting spurs on First Street, North Dakota Avenue and Headquarters Avenue where the work is scheduled to occur can expect uninterrupted traffic flows and unimpeded visual access concomitant with the status quo,” he said. According to Davenport, the timing of the work, which is slated to last for a couple of months, was intentional.”

• Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, November 12: “Because Fort Leonard Wood has a national reputation for protecting threatened and endangered species inhabiting the Ozark biome, such as the gray bat, the Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat, work was planned to delay start-up until these species can make their way into their winter habitat in nearby caves,” he said. Davenport added that he is looking forward to the work starting and continuing.”

• Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, November 12: “Fort Leonard Wood has always taken great pride in maintaining picturesque roadways,” he said. “The work taking place over the next couple of months along Missouri Avenue is a part of an over-arching strategy to sustain the clean and dignified appearance of our roads and streets.” But it’s not only the roadways that are expected to benefit from this work.”

• Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, November 12: “The icing on the cake, the coup de grậce, the piѐce de résistance, in this project is the grooming of the hike and bike trail on the west side of Missouri Avenue between the Sverdrup Gate and Gate Street - almost one and a half miles of beautiful pedestrian space through indigenous Ozark landscape,” Davenport said. “Not only will the trail be cleared of encroaching and hazardous vegetation, but overhead hazards will be removed all the while providing more solar access - and security - for users.”