Chain saw Massacre at Vanderbilt Estate

Since when did August become "assault on trees" month? Word is the National Park Service intends on cutting down 1,000 healthy, mature trees on the grounds of the Vanderbilt Estate in Hyde Park and planting new ones. What have these poor trees done to deserve such a fate? Rumor has it grumpy Hyde Park Supervisor Tom Martino used to work for the National Park service, so maybe he's behind it. Maybe the trees disagreed with him once and he's still mad. Or he's decided to build the new police/court facilty with the lumber. The real question is, do we really need to spend the kind of money required to fell 1,000 perfectly lovely trees and pay to replace them?