^[1]
_{Lincoln Park Path, courtesy of Slightly North ^[2]}

Okay, so it’s more likely to be one of those obnoxious condo overlords who wants a better view, but the Seattle P-I reports that someone has been intentionally killing trees along the Burke-Gilman trail. (# ^[3])

The “tree assassin” has been drilling holes around the tree trucks and injecting them with herbicide. Of course, it sounds like someone tried to do the same thing last year, by stripping the bark off the poplars in question. Stripping bark, or girdling, exposes a tree’s inner core to pests, fungi and bacterial infection and cuts off the channels for food and water to get through. While the 30-year-old trees near 77th Street survived last year’s girdling, five trees are already dead and two more Douglas fir trees are on their way out.

Of course, last time it seemed like some mysterious criminal was running around Seattle parks wreaking havoc, it turned out to be the city itself. (# ^[4]) I’m hoping that the city isn’t off killing trees worth $30,000-$70,000 but you never know. Let’s hope they figure out whose view was most improved by the dying trees, because somehow, I’m guessing that might have had something to do with it. Maybe…