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Nassau County Begins Replanting Trees Destroyed In Superstorm Sandy

NORTH HILLS, N.Y. (CBSNEwYork) -- Nassau County has started replanting trees on the North Shore damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

The first batch is going in Tuesday along Searingtown Road and Shelter Rock Road in North Hills where hundreds of trees were downed and destroyed.

Last week, CBS 2's Carolyn Gusoff visited the area where stumps were all that was left of decades-old Bradford pear and cherry trees.

Nassau County Begins Replanting Trees Destroyed In Superstorm Sandy

"It looks bare and there's one stump after another as you drive along these roads," one North Hills resident told 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera. "It's pitiful."

Many residents had expressed concerns that trees were needlessly axed, but county officials said every tree was inspected and the damage was documented.

"Sandy took those trees down; Nassau did not take those trees down. Those trees were taken down for the safety of the public," Mike Martino of the Nassau County Department of Public Works had said.

The county will be planting Red Maple, Red Oak, Eastern Redbud, Kwanzan Cherry and Hedge Maple trees and will also be using Cleveland pears instead of Bradford pears which proved to be unstable in major storms.

Residents are thrilled to get the new trees which will restore the beauty to their roads.

"It was just something that made your soul lift when you came by here in the spring and I think anybody who drove on these streets felt the same way," one resident said.

Nassau County Begins Replanting Trees Destroyed In Superstorm Sandy

Crews were also planting trees at Christopher Morley Park in Roslyn on Tuesday as part of the county's Arbor Day festivities, WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs reported.

"Superstorm Sandy changed the face of Nassau County forever," said County Executive Edward Mangano. "This tree planting program will continue until we have addressed every location throughout Nassau County that lost trees due to the storm."

Nassau officials said it will replant trees on the South Shore beginning in the fall due to high levels of salt in the soil from  floodwaters.

The project is being paid for by County Capital funds.

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