As sea levels and temperatures rise, Washington D.C’s iconic cherry blossoms are under threat

Beloved social media star ‘Stumpy the Cherry Blossom’ is among the casualties.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:20 His name is Thumpy.

00:22 It's a cute little tree that unfortunately I believe this year is going to be its last bloom.

00:30 [Music]

00:51 Over the next three years we will anchor those seawalls in bedrock to keep them from settling.

00:57 We will raise the height of the seawall to keep the water where it's supposed to be in the tidal basin.

01:02 And we'll widen the walkways as well to accommodate 21st century crowds.

01:08 [Music]

01:21 The trees that are being removed we will return back to the National Mall as mulch.

01:26 That mulch will be spread over tree roots of the surviving trees giving them protection from foot traffic.

01:33 And then as that mulch breaks down it becomes soil and that soil provides nutrients for trees for literally generations to come.

01:41 So it's a good second life, it's a good beneficial second life.

01:46 [Music]

01:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]