Allegheny Commons, in the heart of the North Side, was a good place to sit on a bench yesterday and watch spring's greening move like a light breeze through the park's budding trees.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Drew Albright, 5, of the kindergarten at Allegheny Traditional Academy, laughs as he tries his hand at tree climbing at West Park on the North Side. The tree climbing station was one of the activities at the Penn-Del Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture's Arbor Day 2004. Click photo for larger image.

It was good despite the buzzing drone of chain saws that were being used to take down eight of the park's 800 trees and prune dozens more.

The cutting of the trees and the planting of 15 others were part of a program celebrating Arbor Day -- officially tomorrow -- that focused attention on efforts to maintain and restore the sylvan setting of the city's oldest park.

Duquesne Light Co., eight tree services and nurseries, and the city's Forestry Department volunteered equipment and manpower for the work.

"We've never taken out so many trees at once, but I think you have to look at it as a good thing," said Christina Schmidlapp, director of Allegheny Commons Restoration, a project of the Northside Leadership Conference.

"It demonstrates that the park does need more trees and it's time to think about the succession of the landscape. We've got to replace things periodically."

Using common land once roamed by cattle, Allegheny Commons was established in 1867 to provide "breathing places" for the residents of what was then the city of Allegheny.

Today, the 80-acre park, within walking distance of Downtown, contains the largest collection of mature shade trees in the city, but is showing signs of age, abuse and neglect.

The Allegheny Commons Steering Committee at the Northside Leadership Conference has come up with a plan for the park's rehabilitation that includes historic restoration and preservation work, and tree planting.

It could cost as much as $16 million, raised from foundations, state grants and private donations, over the next 20 years.

"Like a lot of urban areas, Pittsburgh has been cutting down a lot of trees. As we push redevelopment in our urban areas, we need to ensure that adequate green space is provided," said state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District.

More than 50 species are represented in the park's 800 trees, including locally rare bald cypress, Kentucky coffee tree, Turkish filbert and dawn redwood, a distant cousin of the giant sequoias of California.

According to Dale Vezzetti, the city's forester, many of the trees are 125 to 150 years old.

Among the 15 trees planted yesterday were 11 different species, including golden raintree, katsura and Persian parrotia.

"Because this park was designed to accommodate exotic as well as native plantings, the master plan recommends both," Schmidlapp said, as she walked through what's known as The Grove in the western corner of the park between Ridge Avenue and Brighton Road. "The idea is to enhance the diversity."