The Cherry Tree Rumor That Wasn’t

The rumor finds a season

Late August in Washington carries its own weather: the heat softens at the edges, the Potomac holds a thin glare, and the conversation about East Potomac Park turns restless. For weeks the park had been the subject of renderings, lawsuits and a president’s announcement that work on the East Potomac Golf Links would begin September 1. The plan was described as a makeover into a championship-style site.

Then the posts arrived. Readers emailed and messaged asking if it was true crews had cut down dozens of cherry trees to pave the way for the renovation, specifically at the East Potomac Golf Links property inside East Potomac Park, the site of the nation’s first cherry blossom planting. One email put it bluntly: despite court orders, Trump is moving forward with plans to remove 158 iconic cherry trees near the Tidal Basin and 60 have already been cut down. Another asked simply whether the administration had ordered the removal of dozens of cherry trees in D.C. that were a gift from Japan.

The claim spread across Bluesky, Facebook, Threads and X, often with the same arithmetic: sixty trees, dozens of cherries, an illegal removal without court approval. The timing mattered. The renovation was supposed to start on September 1, and the rumor surfaced days before construction was set to begin.

A park with history and a plan on paper

East Potomac Park is not a blank lot. It holds two nine-hole courses, an 18-hole course, a driving range and other facilities, bicycle lanes and picnic areas. Tee times were still available for booking on the website in the first week of September for all three courses, even as the debate grew louder.

On June 28, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that renovations to East Potomac Golf Links would begin September 1 to build one of the greatest golf courses anywhere in the world that could host major tournaments. He was photographed at the course holding renderings of a redesigned course. The Washington Post wrote at the time that those plans did not appear to show several of the park’s best-known public amenities, including the riverside bicycle trail, the miniature golf course and Washington’s oldest grove of cherry trees.

The project is subject to a lawsuit filed by a preservation group and two D.C.-area golfers. In May, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes reportedly said the court must be told if the renovation plans called for the removal of more than 10 trees.

The concern about historic trees was real. The potential removal of historic cherry trees became a concern after the renderings circulated. East Potomac Park also includes the area where the nation’s first cherry blossom planting occurred, and the Tidal Basin north of the park still holds remnants of the trees Japan gave the U.S. in 1910 and 1912.

Sixty trees, one cherry

The rumor appeared to have originated with a misreading of an August 28 Washington Post report headlined “Trees are coming down by the dozen as Trump’s D.C. golf makeover nears.” The story described newly cut stumps and bare patches of dirt marking places where dozens of trees recently stood and said an informal count found that 60 trees appeared to have been removed in recent weeks.

The Post mentioned noticing at least one removed cherry tree near the 14th green of the blue course, as well as two large sycamores removed around another area. Out of those 60, only one was a cherry tree.

Social media posts distorted that count. Several readers asked about claims that the Trump administration had cut down 60 cherry trees. One post claimed Trump had just illegally chopped down sixty historic cherry trees in Washington D.C. without court approval so that he could renovate a golf course, citing the Washington Post and falsely saying the newspaper had reported that Trump had gone ahead and chopped down dozens and dozens of beloved cherry and sycamore trees at the historic East Potomac Golf Links.

The article did not say dozens of cherry trees were removed. It mentioned one cherry tree, as well as two sycamore trees. It did not provide details on what other types of trees were chopped down.

What the park service said

An Interior Department spokesperson told Snopes that arborists recommend the removal of dying, declining or hazardous trees as part of routine maintenance. The statement given to the Washington Post was similar: arborists are doing routine maintenance at East Potomac Park with selective removal of hazard trees, non-native invasive trees and declining and dying trees that cannot be brought back to good health through any degree of intervention. Trees throughout the park are regularly monitored for potential safety impacts to visitors, and when a tree is determined to be dying, declining or hazardous our arborists may make the decision to remove it.

The department’s explanation echoes a larger pattern. During the Biden administration, the National Park Service reportedly removed 300 trees, including 140 cherry trees, from the Tidal Basin area north of East Potomac Park as part of a three-year project capped off by the replanting of 277 cherry trees. Fewer than 100 of the cherry trees Japan gave the U.S. in the early 1900s remain to this day and are planted along the Tidal Basin.

The company RTEC Treecare was reported by the Washington Post as cutting down trees at the park on August 27. RTEC told the Post it had not removed any cherry trees. The company later posted a message on its website: We want to be clear: RTEC Treecare has not removed any cherry trees at East Potomac Park Golf Course. Our work has been limited to trees identified by the National Park Service as hazardous, non-native, or invasive.

Watching from the course

The anxiety was not abstract. An advocacy group opposed to major changes to the park said it only knew for certain of one cherry tree being cut down.

Alex Rosen, a spokesman for the advocacy group Save East Po, said the social media claims were false. I have noticed people online saying ‘60 cherry trees.’ I can tell you that this is totally untrue. We know for certain that 1 cherry tree was cut down. Save East Po describes itself as an independent, grassroots coalition of DMV neighbors, runners, cyclists, picnickers, fishers, families, and the golfers who actually play this course, who all want the same thing: keep East Potomac Park public, accessible, and affordable.

Rosen added there might have been one other cherry tree cut down but he is not certain on that. What we are worried about is that more will come down as the admin continues to operate in very closed door ways.

The group and others are concerned that the administration’s renovations could lead to higher prices and reduced access to the courses and other public spaces in the larger park. In May, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared a rendering of the renovated course, saying it would offer championship-quality golf at affordable, highly discounted rates. The rendering would combine the existing courses into one 18-hole course and add a short par-3 course and an expanded practice area.

On the ground, the park remained open. Tee times were available. Stumps marked recent work, but the viral arithmetic — sixty cherry trees felled for a golf course — had no evidence to support it. The count was sixty trees, not sixty cherries. The park service called the removals routine maintenance. Neighbors watched, counted, and kept posting. The rumor had found a season, but the trees it claimed were gone were still, for now, mostly standing.