Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Autumn, 1998. View towards City Hall from Eakins Oval. (NPS Photo) The unique problems of replacing a formal landscape feature are addressed in this rehabilitation project. The controversial issue of extensive tree removal and replacement is one that is faced in assessing the alternatives for any formal vegetation feature. In this case, the majority of the trees were already lost or severely diseased so that removal was a more viable and understandable option. For the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the total replacement approach is a successful alternative. Individual removal and replacement of trees would not achieve a same age and stature of tree allee and would prevent the overall improvement of the planting soil. However, as also illustrated by this case study, when addressing a formal feature such as a linear parkway or boulevard, a phased approach is usually not successful in creating the visual and spatial organization of the historic design in the future. In many landscape preservation projects, public and owner resistance to the removal of mature canopy trees has been an obstacle to implementation of a treatment plan. The result of partial removals in a formal feature is a radical change in the character and appearance from the historic period to the present day - - and thus never achieves the original design intent. Unlike a single, sentinel tree, such as a witness tree in a civil war battlefield or a tree associated with an individual (e.g. planted by a notable person), formal tree elements such as a boulevard, allée or hedge are best treated as large landscape features. The individual trees are simply parts of a larger composition with little individual value. View from Logan Square fountain to Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1998. (NPS Photo) In sum, the coupling of thorough documentation of history and existing conditions with a broadly conceived public outreach program led to public consensus for this rehabilitation treatment. The results: the return of the visual and spatial relationships of the parkway to two double rows of parkway trees in a more sustainable environment, a comprehensive maintenance and management agenda and a more informed constituency.