Ashland has a tree controversy and the fate of two Douglas firs, planted by Boy Scouts a century ago, has halted a $1.3 million donation to create an authentic Japanese garden in the 100-acre downtown Lithia Park.

Right now, plans are on hold to transform the original half-acre Japanese-style garden, laid out in 1915 by landscape architect John McLaren and amended over time, into one designed by Japanese garden specialist Toru Tanaka.

--Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The idea was to create an immersive experience with a tranquil landscape filled with some of the existing fiery maple trees and 200 added trees and shrubs.

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Rendering by Portland Landscape Design and Japanese Garden Specialty

The re-design calls for a new koi pond and Zen-style raked sand area, as well as an improved, looping path that would allow people in wheelchairs or those pushing strollers to follow a stone creek.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

To accomplish this according to the plan, two of 12 historic Douglas fir trees adjacent to the garden that had been planted by the Ashland Boy Scout troop in 1924 would be cut down to create space for a bamboo grove, and to prevent the fir trees from casting shade and blocking light on part of the garden. The old trees’ roots that reached into the garden would also be removed.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The plans were discussed in open public meetings over six months and people objected to the changes, including a fence to keep out deer, and most vocally, the thought of taking down two historic trees where red-shouldered hawks nest. The city Tree Commission wanted the two firs to stay. Removing them would impact the remaining 10 trees.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

An idea to use the wood from the two trees as benches, fencing and a tea house was rejected by critics. One likened repurposing the trees to killing a dog and spreading its bones in the garden.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

If the plans were shifted 30 feet in the other direction to save the firs, the original garden footprint would be lost and a spectacular pencil cedar tree and its grassy area on the other side of the garden would be hemmed in.

“This is not a cut-and-paste design,” said donor Jeff Mangin on Wednesday. "Japanese gardens are deliberate. There is a specific aesthetic sense to every element, which interacts with other elements."

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Japanese garden experts see each environment as distinctive, drawing on the climate and culture of every place. Elements are precisely selected to direct visitors to certain points where the view is carefully constructed.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

True Japanese gardens are influenced by Shinto, Buddhist and Taoist philosophies and are precisely designed to help visitors be "in the moment.” Essential elements are different sizes of guiding stones, the life-giving force of water and plants that deliver a tapestry of colors over the seasons.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Well-designed gardens make the most of their setting and rely on borrowed scenery – mountains, sky and other natural elements – to extend the experience.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Speeches at the public meetings and protests around the trees were passionate and personal. In the end, the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission voted in a split decision – 3 to 2 – during a Jan. 28 meeting to approve the project as designed.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Local TV reported the results as "Japanese garden wins, trees lose." The Ashland Daily Tidings' headline was "Spare the firs, spoil the garden?"

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Days later, after continued controversy, donor Mangin decided to put the project on hold.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Mangin, an Ashland resident and board member of the Ashland Parks Foundation, had thought about the idea for years before he and his late wife's family offered to give the parks foundation its largest gift ever with the specific instruction to remake the garden in an authentic Japanese form to encourage more personal and social involvement.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The last major investment in the garden was about 40 years ago, when city parks horticulturalist Don Todt was given the funds to shore up the watercourse with concrete and dress up the upsloping rectangle that spans from the park’s Winburn Way up to residential Granite Street.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Steps leading from Winburn Way to the elevated garden were set in place at the start of the park. A Torii gate was installed at the top of the stairs in the last decade, but its location is not considered appropriate since it's not an entrance to a Shinto shrine.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Over decades, plants were added to the azaleas and maple trees, the bamboo and ferns.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The Ashland Parks Foundation hired two of Portland's most respected Japanese garden designers to come up with plans: Hoichi Kurisu of Kurisu International and Toru Tanaka of Portland Landscape Design and Japanese Garden Specialty.

Both experts had been a garden director at the Portland Japanese Garden, which is considered the most authentic garden outside of Japan.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

A committee in Ashland debated the merits of each plan and selected Tanaka’s design in which a total of 0.2 acres – about a width of 30 feet on both sides -- would be added to the existing garden.

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Rendering by Portland Landscape Design and Japanese Garden Specialty

A waterfall at the top of the garden would feed a renovated waterway, which is now made of exposed concrete.

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Boulders would line the path and water would flow underneath a traditional Japanese stone lantern.

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There would be a moss garden to bring color during the winter months and a pond strolling garden to encourage leisure year round.

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A zigzag bridge would point the way to an Ivy Leaf maple, which the designer wanted to highlight.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The Ivy Leaf maple's woven roots will continue to fan out.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

A fence would protect the garden from deer.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The main entrance would still face Winburn Way and a side entrance, the current site of the fir trees, would be reached through a new grove of timber bamboo.

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

[Photos taken Feb. 13, 2019]

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

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Janet Eastman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The view across Winburn Way from the Japanese-style garden.

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