June 15th, 2026
Dear Road Commission of Kalamazoo County Board Members,
A significant number of residents have united to ask the Road Commission of Kalamazoo County to amend their current SS4A project to remove the scope of work whereby they plan on cutting down 8,000 trees along our rural roadways as designated in the SS4A Map.
We believe the SS4A project is a worthwhile initiative with some real potential to improve safety along our county roads. We'd like to see it move forward with the improvements of rumble strips, signage, pavement markings, road/intersection improvements, etc. However, we would like to see a compromise made between the citizens/residents of the County and the RCKC whereby the RCKC only removes trees impeding visibility at intersections, as well as removing dead trees or dead limbs along roadsides... not clear cutting them all. We do believe clear cut removal of healthy trees will create a real hazard for 100% of the drivers on these roads in the winter due to blowing snow causing icy road conditions. Roadside trees create a natural barrier to prevent this hazard. See links here for studies confirming this fact:
Colorado Department of Transportation
Minnesota Department of Transportation
Additional Concerns Residents have:
- Creation of “Clear Zone” by removing all trees within 33 feet of the center line will create the real risk that an out-of-control vehicle departing the roadway would then pass through the ‘Clear Zone’ straight into a resident’s home or other residential buildings putting families at risk.
- Or, an out-of-control vehicle passes through the proposed 'Clear Zone' into another tree just beyond the ‘Clear Zone’, negating the potential benefit of the “Clear Zone”.
- We have also heard from residents about the general concern of losing beautiful 50 or 100+ year old trees that can’t be replaced in our lifetimes. Many of us moved out to the country because of the beautiful landscape created by these trees and do not want our communities to look like cleared city streets… we love our tree lined roads.
- Property owners who will lose trees are concerned about a potential decrease in their property values without any say.
- Environmental impact of 8,000 trees being destroyed is significant and you will read about it in the comments section in the attached petitions filled out by residents.
We are aware the RCKC team has given you six talking points to support the clear cutting of 8,000 roadside trees and we would like to address them here.
1) Creating a ‘Clear Zone’ will reduce deer collisions. We don’t believe the RCKC has any data to support this. We would point to the significant number of dead deer along US-131 and I-94 from dear collisions all year long where the ‘Clear Zone’ is over 50 feet from the edge of the shoulder. Clearly, ‘Clear Zones’ do not stop deer collisions.
2) Power Outages. Several of the roadsides the RCKC will be clear cutting in this SS4A project don’t even have power lines (or any utilities) along them. Our utility companies already have their legal right-of-way and maintain their powerlines annually, which includes clear cutting along them to prevent power outages. We pay our electric/phone/internet bills to the utility companies so they can maintain their powerlines… they’ve got it covered.
3) $1M in Road maintenance Reduction. As residents, we pay our property taxes, state income taxes, gas tax, etc. We pay these taxes to ensure our Road Commission is doing their annual work to maintain our roads and that includes clearing any fallen trees that may come down in storms. We are good with this arrangement and want to see it continue as the status quo.
4) Reseeding ‘Clear Zones’ with milkweed for the monarch butterflies. This would be great, except the RCKC comes through and cuts all grass/weeds/milkweed that grows along our rural roadways 2 to 3 times a summer eliminating the monarch habitat.
5) Avoiding Fatal Crashes with trees. This is the most important reason for creating a ‘Clear Zone’. I want to share a fact that was brought forth by the Chair of the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners on a public webpage:
"I have reviewed the RCKC Action Plan and looked at the identified High-risk Segments of the KCRC network. In the 11 segments specifically identified for clear zone creation in which trees will be clear cut (as feasible) only 3 of those locations included fatal accidents that involved trees and in 2 of them the person was also intoxicated and the conditions were wet. Here is the link to the report you can review yourself too....https://www.kalamazoocountyroads.com/.../RCKC... "
These are much smaller numbers than what the RCKC has its Board and public believing. While we do not want to see anyone get hurt on our roads, however, the thousands of us that drive on these rural roads know that the RCKC will be creating a much larger risk of injury or death for 100% of the drivers on these rural roads in the winter due to icy road conditions from blowing snow. The existing road side trees greatly reduce this winter hazard.
6) RCKC is considering passing out sapling trees to replace the trees they are cutting down on an owner’s property. These samplings will not replace the 50 and 100+ year old trees that will be cut down in terms of historical value, environmental impact, and aesthetic/property value. These saplings will not protect our roads in the winter from blowing snow creating icy roads and hazardous driving conditions.
We are also concerned about representations that the RCKC is making to the RCKC Board (during both your 5/19 and 6/2 board meetings), to Township Supervisors and the public that because the SS4A grant has already been awarded, they cannot change their scope of work without jeopardizing the entire grant. For this reason, RCKC has responded to inquiries that they will not entertain any compromises or changes to the scope of work. Specifically, their FAQ document on their website states, “At this point, the project scope and locations are finalized, and it is not possible to cancel the project.”
Again, the residents do not want to stop the SS4A project… we think it’s a worthwhile project to move forward with. We simply want RCKC to amend the project whereby the RCKC only removes trees impeding visibility at intersections, as well as removing dead trees or dead limbs along roadsides... not clear cutting them all.
For this reason, I have spoken directly with XXXX from the Office of the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation (responsible for the overall SS4A grant program including approval of grants and amendments to the grants) and XXXX of the Federal Highway Administration of the US Department of Transportation (responsible for day-to-day project management of individual SS4A grants awarded to municipalities/counties). In two separate conversations on May 21, 2026, after explaining the residents’ proposal to reduce the scope of the work to be done under the current plan (by eliminating the clear cutting of 8,000 trees to create the ‘Clear Zone’), both Mr. XXX and Ms. XXX confirmed that amendments are common and that reducing the scope of work for only one portion of the project will not jeopardize RCKC’s SS4A project or grant funds. A second conversation was had with Mr. XXX on June 15, 2026, and after once again talking through the resident’s requested amendment to the RCKC project, Mr. XXX stated that he understands the hazards that would be created in the winter time and believes the resident’s request is reasonable and would not jeopardize the rest of the project grant. The RCKC simply has to submit an amendment for approval to the DOT, which the RCKC has done at least once already. Ms. XXX explained that this SS4A program should be a community project and amendments to these projects are common due to local governments receiving input/feedback from their citizens.
RCKC has stated that any changes to their SS4A project would delay the timeline and put the whole grant project in jeopardy as they have to adhere to project completion timelines. Again, we do not believe this is accurate. The residents are proposing a significant reduction in work by eliminating the need to remove 8,000 trees as the RCKC has estimated. This would significantly reduce the amount of upfront tree removal work needed, thereby reducing the overall timeline allowing the RCKC to finish on-time or possibly ahead of schedule.
We have listened to RCKC’s SS4A presentation, attended meetings at the RCKC, as well as spoken directly to representatives from RCKC and have concerns that residents may not have been fully aware as to the size and scope of the complete tree removal portion of this project. We believe that real visibility to the scope of the project has only just started in May as residents are just now seeing red ‘X’ and orange ‘X’ marks on road side trees being identified for removal by the RCKC. We have heard from residents that they are confused about why the trees are marked and then had them express anger upon learning that “X” marks the spot for complete removal starting in October of 2026. See responses in attached petitions from property owners with trees being removed: When questioned in Petition #1, only 3 of the 202 residents knew about their trees being removed and why. Those 3 residents only found out about it after their trees were marked with an X in May and then reached out to the RCKC.
Another resident of Kalamazoo County who had not heard of the SS4A project was County Sheriff Richard Fuller. Sheriff Fuller has gone on record saying that he supports our movement (or at least he "wouldn't want his roadside trees removed” and encouraged listeners to visit our website"), although he is looking deeper into the matter. For Sheriff Fuller's comments, see the link here on Radio WKZO - the Ken Lanphear morning podcast on Wednesday morning, June 3rd:
https://wkzo.com/podcasts-morning-show-with-ken-lanphear/
This is an extremely important voice of support for our SS4A amendment campaign, because it is his Sheriff’s department that is on scene for county road accidents. If the Sheriff thinks that the trees along our rural roads are not a safety issue, then we believe we have even stronger merit to remove this scope of work from the RCKC SS4A project.
We would also like to point out that the RCKC’s SS4A presentation discusses test cases they have already completed where rumble strips were installed on certain roads. RCKC reported significant reduction in crashes involving vehicles leaving the roadway just from installing rumble strips. We believe the implementation of rumble strips and the other improvements such as road resurfacing, signage, pavement markings will only add to the success of the SS4A initiatives without having to remove our roadside trees.
I will leave you with a final though…
"Trees along rural and suburban roads absolutely slow down traffic. Traffic engineers and environmental psychologists refer to this phenomenon as traffic calming or the "edge effect." "When drivers see trees lining the road, they subconsciously alter their driving behavior. This reaction comes down to a few fascinating psychological and visual triggers." kittleson.com
Below is copied from the following study: How Street Trees Make our Roads Safer:
"Reduced Speed
Reducing speed is one of the most important factors in preventing road accidents from happening. Reduced speed also helps limit the chances of death or serious injury if an accident does occur.
Studies showing that tree-lined streets encourage people to drive more slowly is really positive. The reason this happens may be because a line of trees alongside a road alters our perception of how wide the road is, causing us to slow down. By contrast, a long stretch of open road makes most of us increase our speed.
According to Smart Cities Dive:
‘It’s quite simple; trees help create a natural, visual wall that drivers are constantly aware of.’
Trees also provide a psychological cue that lets us know we’re in an area where people live, making us more conscious of children, animals and the possibility of unexpected incidents. This makes us slow down and pay greater attention to what’s going on around us.
Not only does slower driving make our streets safer, but it also reduces emissions, making them healthier too."
In addition to going door-to-door with several volunteers, we set up a website whereby residents can learn about both sides of the issue of the SS4A project (we included a direct link to the RCKC SS4A website to promote transparency). On this website is where residents can fill out a petition if they support the proposed amendment to the RCKC SS4A project. You can find it here: kalamazoocountytrees.com
We have secured 1,235 petitions to support our amendment and they are attached to this email for your review. We encourage you to read through the comments that residents left for you in the attached. We have only been soliciting petition support for two weeks and will continue our campaign through the next few months to gather more support if need be.
However, at this time, we are asking the RCKC Board to vote on and direct the RCKC to compromise with the citizens/residents of the County and submit an amendment to their SS4A grant project whereby the RCKC only removes trees impeding visibility at intersections, as well as removing dead trees or dead limbs along roadsides... not clear cutting them all to create ‘Clear Zones’.
Thank you,
Brad Sadowski