Crews work on cleaning up the Fort Borst Park play area after cutting into a dead tree last month in Centralia.
Centralia has scrapped a plan to use trees felled in Fort Borst Park to restore the historic blockhouse.
The plan — repurposing the timber from ongoing tree removal efforts to provide the 32-foot sections needed for the fort — made sense on paper, but proved impractical in reality.
“We had an idea,” Community Development Director Emil Pierson told the city council Tuesday.
But after meeting with a restoration specialist, they found the plan wouldn’t work.
“Those are beautiful logs, but it usually takes about two years for the logs to cure,” city workers were told. “Those logs won’t be able to be utilized.”
Pierson was responding to a question from Councilor Susan Luond, who said leaving the fallen trees at the site while awaiting the fort project presented a safety hazard.
“We saw kids crawling on them,” Pierson said. “To leave those laying in the park like that is very dangerous.”
Pierson assured Luond that, with the fort restoration off the table, the city will be looking for a buyer to take the timber off its hands.
