Elm trees are removed from downtown Grand Marais

The elms are gone.

Amid the roaring of chainsaws and other heavy machinery, the clearing of trees and vegetation along Highway 61 took center stage in downtown Grand Marais today.

KGM Contractors, the road construction company for the project, is performing the tree clearing. The worked started earlier this week and reached its peak with the removal of a collection of elm trees along the Highway 61 corridor.

Despite an abundance of vocal opposition to the removal of the trees, only a few people turned out in protest of the elms being removed on Wednesday.

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs and Rhonda Silence were downtown as the tree cutting took place. The audio below contains interviews from their visit. Click on the photo above to see more images from the tree removal that took place Nov. 6 in downtown Grand Marais.