Metro’s K-line South project could risk losing cap-and-trade eligibility if it fails to mitigate local environmental damage, ignores community input, and cannot credibly demonstrate net climate and equity benefits after mass tree removal.
Community opposition to the Metro K-Line’s southern extension through the tiny South Bay community of Lawndale has included concerns about negative environmental impacts, including mass tree removal, children’s safety, constant light rail noise, toxic dust from disturbing the existing freight tracks, and the extremely close proximity to rows of multiple family home—at times less than 15 or 20 feet away. Residents were dissatisfied with Metro’s lack of engagement to address their concerns, and have turned to environmental advocacy groups and are hosting community meetings.
Urban tree canopy is crucial for improving air quality, reducing urban heat, managing stormwater, providing shade, and supporting biodiversity. Loss of mature trees can exacerbate heat vulnerability and environmental health disparities, especially in historically underserved communities like portions of Lawndale. Studies show that South Los Angeles communities including parts of Lawndale—suffer from lower tree canopy coverage (around 13%) compared to LA city average (21%). Urban tree canopy disparities reflect systemic environmental injustice and health risks from heat and pollution.
There are significant tree canopy equity issues connected to the potential removal of the hundreds of old heritage trees along the rail right-of-way in Lawndale if the Metro K Line extension though this tree-lined green strip proceeds as planned. Metro’s own current tree policy requires preservation and sustainable replacement of urban trees during construction, emphasizing a minimum tree replacement of 4:1 for any of these mature heritage trees.
Trees provide our customers with shade and protection from extreme heat, and they also improve the air quality of the neighborhoods we serve. We are proud to be the first transit agency in the country to implement a tree policy, and we look forward to working in partnership with community, municipal, and county partners on its implementation.
Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins
But there simply isn’t room for adequate tree replacement if Metro builds the K line down their staff-recommended route of the Lawndale freight corridor! In fact, Metro’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the K-Line extension admits that tree removal in the right-of-way is simply unavoidable, as is the noise and vibration, and disruption of toxic rail infrastructure so close to family homes.
Railroad right-of-way Tree count per Lawndale staff:
West-side of Tracks (where the freight train will move closer to Condon Ave.)
222 Total Aleppo Pines (Pinus halepensis)
East-side of Tracks (where LRT would be located too close to family homes.)
132 Total Cheese Wood Cape (Pittosporum viridiflorum)
454 mature trees total on Lawndale’s ROW
The fact is, hundreds of trees will be destroyed to make room for the two more light rail tracks alongside the existing freight train track. This expensive environmental catastrophe can be avoided by using electric buses, or building the tracks above Hawthorne Blvd—which is also in Lawndale—just two blocks East.
This project is grossly underfunded and the removal of hundreds of mature heritage trees should be a serious concern for Metro, because it poses a significant funding risk if they expect to secure Cap-and-Trade funds. Metro would need to work closely with the City of Lawndale to demonstrate robust mitigation. Unfortunately, Metro’s relationship with the City of Lawndale is already strained for several reasons, including Metro denying the City permission to test the soil for toxic petrochemicals and arsenic, which are very often found along rail tracks.
Environmental studies have confirmed that mature trees are very important to every community. They store significant carbon stock, so their loss needs careful offset and replacement to align with California’s stringent climate investment requirements under the Cap-and-Trade funding framework. This issue is being closely watched in environmental reviews and public discussions, given the scale of the tree removal and the equity concerns involved in this project.
I thought that it was time to get a tree policy on the books so we can assure neighborhoods that we are not only protecting our urban canopy, but adding to it.
Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Director Janice Hahn, who authored the motion that led to this policy’s creation and adoption
Environmental studies have confirmed that mature trees are very important to every community. They store significant carbon stock, so their loss needs careful offset and replacement to align with California’s stringent climate investment requirements under the Cap-and-Trade funding framework. This issue is being closely watched in environmental reviews and public discussions, given the scale of the tree removal and the equity concerns involved in this project.
In fact, equity-focused urban forestry efforts have emphasized the importance of increasing tree canopy—especially where it is historically lacking—to reduce health and environmental disparities. So, if Metro cuts down Lawndale’s mature trees along the freight tracks, it raises critical tree canopy equity issues and requires replanting trees and community collaboration, due to the area’s already relatively low canopy coverage and its vulnerable populations. The policy is already a recognized concern in ongoing public discussions and environmental reviews of the project, but Metro simply appears to be plowing ahead.
Metro’s tree policy and environmental mitigation plans are supposed to address harms by requiring replanting and community collaboration, but there is simply no room to replace the trees 4:1, or even 2:1. In fact, this K-line southern extension project will only worsen existing environmental injustices for Lawndale, which already has the 405 freeway and seven petroleum pipelines running down the middle of it.
Will Metro pretend that installing a few young trees will make up for the destruction of hundreds of mature shade trees currently along the right-of-way? Many of these trees have been on the row for well more than 75 years!
And are they also going to pretend that installing a concrete “walking path” is better than the long strip of grass and trees that our tax money has been used to irrigate, clean and mow for decades?
Metro can keep the concrete path, and let us keep our grass, trees and space to walk. Spend the money on a project that will actually help Los Angeles- like better and more thoughtful transportation alternatives from the airport to the Inglewood venues on Prairie Blvd, which is desperately needed before the 2028 Olympics.
Lawndale resident against Metro K Line expansion