WASHINGTON – More than 150 cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, bloomed for the last time in late March. After years of twice-daily flooding from a rising Potomac River, the National Park Service will be removing trees closest to the water to restore the seawall that lines the roughly 100-acre basin just off the river.
This year’s Yoshino cherry blossoms reached peak bloom (when an estimated 70% of the blossoms open) on March 17. That was a week earlier than predicted and the second earliest peak bloom since record-keeping began in 1921. The Park Service attributes it to a warming climate.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the seawalls in the late 1800s to contain water from the Potomac River. But now, with sea level rising and land sinking from development on the former wetland, the trees and benches are inundated with every high tide.
The Park Service on March 13 announced its $113 million plan to repair the Tidal Basin and West Potomac seawalls by 2027. It aims to protect the memorials and cherry trees from sea level rise for the next 100 years. Construction will begin in May, starting with building a staging area in the adjacent West Potomac Park.
This first phase of the project won’t limit visitor access. Crews will be removing 158 trees between the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Plans call for the planting of 274 additional cherry trees out of the water’s reach. The Park Service has a stockpile of trees grown from cuttings of the surviving trees, originally gifted by Japan in 1912.
In collaboration with the Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall, the National Trust for Historic Preservation created the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab in 2019. The lab gathered five landscape architecture firms to reimagine the Tidal Basin, where regular flooding has also eroded walkways and created safety hazards. The organizations will begin drafting a master plan this spring.