As the Tumalo Irrigation District started toppling trees along the Deschutes River Trail early this week, Bend officials exchanged emails questioning whether the district should have gone through a city permit process to do so.

The answer is no, city officials said Tuesday.

“By our code they are exempt from any permitting if they are doing maintenance within their easement,” said Mel Oberst, Bend director of community development.

The exemption allows power companies and irrigation districts to cut trees growing into power lines or pipes without a permit or public review.

Although the project would have gone under review if it involved cutting trees larger than 8 inches in diameter, it focused on smaller trees, said Wendy Robinson, Bend senior planner.

Since Monday, district workers have been cutting down young trees growing over a 5.5-mile pipe leading diverted water from First Street Rapids Park to Tumalo Creek, said Kenneth Rieck, assistant manager of the district. Along that run the 6- to 7-foot-wide pipe is under the Deschutes River Trail for about four miles. The clearing is expected to be done by the end of next week.

Roots from the trees grow into seams in the pipe, which is concrete or plastic depending on the section, and create cracks that cause leakage. The district installed the bulk of the pipe in 1975; some sections have since been replaced.

Rieck has said the district has spent $15 million on the pipe.

As the tree removal started Monday, Rieck met at the First Street Rapids trailhead with neighbors and a Bend birder who had expressed concerns about the impact of the tree removal.

The district’s project will meet its needs to maintain the pipe while keeping the character of the popular trail, said Tom Crabtree, who is on the board of directors for the East Cascade Audubon Society.

“We walked a quarter of the trail and didn’t have a disagreement (on what trees would be cut down),” he said.

Among the group of four that met with Rieck on Monday morning was Tom Comerford, 64, of Bend. Comerford lives next to First Street Rapids Park and said when he first heard about the tree removal he worried the old pines and juniper by his house and the trailhead were set to be cut.

Rieck said those trees wouldn’t be removed; the removal will mainly focus on pines and cottonwoods that are less than 15 feet tall and grow close to or over the pipe.

For just over the first half mile the trail hugs the west bank of the Deschutes River.

“It will be interesting to see how it will look when it’s done,” Comerford said. “You’ll be able to see the river better.”