To students walking near the Rotunda, Central Grounds may look eerily empty.
More than simply the bleakness of winter, large bare spots where magnificent trees once stood make the Lawn appear more barren.
Facilities Management removed six decayed trees on the Lawn and cut down one tree from each garden at Pavilion III and Pavilion IX over Winter Break because of concerns that their old age could pose a danger to Lawn visitors and residents.
The trees were not dead but had a "considerable amount of decay" and the potential to "fall without warning," said Arboretum and Landscape Committee member James Murray.
The decision to remove the trees is a result of an increasingly "insurance-driven" policy toward trees at the University. This policy is designed to avoid costly accidents, such as when a huge branch fell from the "McGuffey" tree at Pavilion IX in the early 90s, Murray said.
The University overrode the Arboretum and Landscape Committee, which is charged with the oversight of Grounds maintenance programs, on several issues surrounding the trees' removal.
Some trees that the committee had approved of as safe, including a few removed from the Lawn over break, were cut unnecessarily simply because of such insurance risks, Murray said.
The trees included a red maple, a sugar maple, four large ashes, and two small ashes.
The Lawn now has more than 70 trees.
"I like seeing the trees in the fall," third-year Engineering student John Robinson said. "Things will definitely be different. The removal of the trees detracts from the beauty of the location."
University Landscape Architect Mary V. Hughes said officials determined the trees were about 130 years old after counting the rings on one of the trees.
The trees were planted in the 1870s by William A. Pratt, the University's first superintendent of buildings and grounds, Murray said.
The University will restore the felled trees with ash or maple saplings in accordance with a policy calling for the replacement of lost trees.
They will be in slightly different locations, however, to allow for a fuller view of the pavilions that the old trees blocked, Hughes said.
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