Over the holiday weekend that included Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day, crews working for the National Park Service (NPS) cut down 430 trees at East Potomac Golf Links, a public golf course in Washington, D.C. The cutting comes as President Donald Trump pushes to remake the course into a venue that could host professional tournaments.

The timing raised alarms. Government lawyers had promised to warn the groups suing over the project before any permanent damage was done. Instead, that warning arrived at 4:55 p.m. on a Friday, and the cutting began the next morning. By the time the D.C. Preservation League asked the court for an emergency order on Sunday, the work was already underway.

Federal Judge Ana Reyes has now blocked any more tree removal until at least Oct. 26. She reminded government lawyers that months earlier she had said she “didn’t want 10 trees chopped down without someone having notice,” according to ABC News. She now wants to know who ordered the cutting and whether her earlier instructions were deliberately sidestepped. The government says the work followed a 2019 plan to clear dead, dying and dangerous trees.

East Potomac Park belongs to the public. Mature trees take decades to grow and cannot be replaced overnight. Decisions about land this valuable should happen in the open, with real notice and a fair chance for the public to weigh in.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the National Park Service must halt all tree removal and construction at East Potomac until the court case is resolved, and replant what was lost.

Sign the petition to protect East Potomac Park before more of it disappears for good.