Under Orders, Mérida Uproots Trees It Just Finished Planting

Mérida’s city government has a new headache after spending months planting trees along Circuito Colonias that now have to be dug up and moved.

City officials say the median trees between the El Enlace overpass and the Miguel Hidalgo traffic circle will be relocated after Mexico’s Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) flagged the land for federal use.

Turns out nobody checked with the railroad first. The stretch lies within the federal right-of-way for the Coatzacoalcos–Mérida rail line, and SICT says the land is under review by INDAABIN, the federal agency that manages government property, so it can be allocated to future mobility projects. City Hall didn’t say whether anyone at the municipal level knew that before crews started digging holes.

A Federal Notice, After the Fact

The cleanup falls to the Environment and Animal Welfare Unit, known as UMABA, working with the municipal public services department. Officials are careful to frame this as a rescue mission rather than a mistake — the trees aren’t being destroyed, just moved. They were planted within the last several weeks.

The relocated trees are bound for the city’s west side, where officials say they’ll seed what’s being billed as Mérida’s first urban forest — a label that, so far, comes only from the city’s own announcement. The lineup includes native species like balché, anacahuita, ciricote and mahogany. At least the trees were grown in Air Pot containers, a system built to keep root systems intact during a move, so the city is betting this round trip won’t set them back. Because they came from municipal nurseries in the first place, officials insist taxpayers won’t be billed for the do-over.

The trees are products of Mérida Verde, Mayor Cecilia Patrón Laviada’s signature greening campaign. In May, crews planted more than 200 native trees along Circuito Colonias poniente using the same Air Pot method, part of a citywide reforestation push that’s planted thousands of trees and gotten tens of thousands more adopted by residents. It’s the kind of program City Hall likes to talk about. Having to relocate part of it because of a federal land dispute is not.

Not the First Tree Headache This Month

Circuito Colonias has had a rough June on the tree front. Earlier this month, residents near Avenida Quetzalcóatl reported unexplained tree removals, with at least seven mature trees chopped down and no official explanation. Vandalism is widely suspected among social media commenters.

About the Trees

• Trees affected: those planted along Circuito Colonias between the El Enlace overpass and the Miguel Hidalgo traffic circle
• Why they’re moving: a federal notice from SICT tied to the Coatzacoalcos–Mérida rail right of way
• Reviewing the land: INDAABIN, the federal property agency
• Handling the move: UMABA and the municipal public services department
• New home: a planned green space on Mérida’s west side, called by the city its first urban forest
• Species involved: balché, anacahuita, ciricote and mahogany
• Growing method: Air Pot containers, designed to limit transplant damage
• Cost to residents: none, according to the city

Sources: El Grillo de Yucatán, Diario de Yucatán, PorEsto