Pine trees could become protected species in Mount Pleasant

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD)- If you drive through certain areas of Mount Pleasant, you’ll notice many trees have been cut down for development.

Now, the town’s conservation committee is discussing ways to protect the tree population before it’s too late.

The Mount Pleasant Planning Commission is rewriting the zoning code, and part of that conversation centers around how the town treats pine trees.

“One is do we protect pine trees. Right now, pine trees are not protected; they haven’t been protected in most towns,” the Mayor of Mount Pleasant, Will Haynie, said.

Mayor Haynie says part of what sparked this conversation is the development of Faison Road and the number of trees that have been cut down in that process.

“Citizens are very concerned about that,” Haynie said.

Haynie says pine trees are fast-growing, but cutting them down hurts the land’s resiliency to flooding, “Pine trees are like any other adult tree. They will take up 10,000 gallons of water a year. That’s money we don’t have to spend putting pipes in the ground, digging drainage ditches, clearing drainage pipes.”

If pines were protected in Mount Pleasant, anyone cutting a tree down would have to get permission and mitigate the loss through the town’s tree bank.

However, other council members say people should be able to freely cut pine trees down on their property if it threatens their home.

“Pine trees are quite dangerous during storms. They will snap during a hurricane and cause property damage, so they are not protected trees,” Mount Pleasant Town Councilmember Guang Ming Whitley said.

Haynie says he understands that concern but thinks there’s a way to protect the trees and people’s homes.

“You do not want a pine tree falling through someone’s house in a hurricane, but also, if you have a commercial development and you have acres and acres of trees, there’s no reason to clear-cut it,” Haynie said.

Another part of the conversation is their mitigation plan for combatting environmental impacts when trees have to be cut down.

The town has a tree bank, meaning when it comes to certain tree types, for everyone that is cut down, a fee must be paid, or another tree must be planted.

Now, the town is considering only allowing native trees to be replanted.