Workers cut down eight trees at the Arkansas governor's mansion this week after they became infested with an invasive beetle that could have spread across the grounds.
Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, says grounds workers found locust leafminer beetles in the trees that once lined the sidewalk in front of the mansion. DeCample says spraying might have helped, but it wouldn't have killed all the beetles.
DeCample says workers will plant disease-resistant ginkgo trees to replace those cut down.
The mansion sits in the heart of the city's Quapaw Quarter, a quiet neighborhood only minutes from downtown Little Rock. DeCample says officials worried the beetles might have spread throughout the tree-lined streets of the neighborhood.
For more information see Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.