Former Gallivan trees find new life at Red Butte Garden

SALT LAKE CITY — Thanks to the vigilance of one city contractor and the expertise and philanthropy of a local landscape company, trees that once provided summer shade and holiday sparkle at downtown's Gallivan Center avoided death by bulldozer blade and have found a new home.

Big D Construction, well into its demolition work for the Gallivan renovation, hoped to avoid razing all of the Japanese maples and Kentucky coffee trees that surrounded the ice-skating rink at the plaza.

A call to big-tree aficionados Tuck Landscaping led to a plan that saved a group of trees planted in containers there and relocated them to sites at Red Butte Garden and 200 South near the Fresh Market grocery store downtown.

Russ Metge, landscape project manager for Tuck, said moving mature trees that are 20- to 30-feet tall is tricky business, but the Gallivan transplants have a positive prognosis.

"When done commercially, a lot goes into moving trees this size," Metge said. "Work starts a year before they're moved.

"In this case, we had to do it in just weeks. … But the trees look great, and I think they'll do well."

Metge said his company donated labor and equipment to get the trees relocated, along with donated help from Big D Construction, Red Butte Garden and the University of Utah.

Gallivan Center spokeswoman Talitha Day said the existing trees did not fit into the revamped plaza scheme, which will expand the ice rink and create a larger and more crowd-friendly outdoor amphitheater that hosts the popular summertime Twilight Concert Series.

"The work to save these trees was just fantastic," Day said.

The renovation project at the center is slated for completion in spring 2011. The progress can be viewed at www.thegallivancenter.com.

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com