A Seattle City Park employee found seven mature trees with drill holes and then injected with herbicide along the trail in Seattle?EUR??,,????'???s View Ridge neighborhood.

Three silver poplar trees and four 70 foot Douglas firs are dead. Two other trees are starting to turn brown.

Tree experts said they believe the damage to the trees was done in the past few weeks.

?EUR??,,????'??This wasn?EUR??,,????'???t a random act of vandalism with somebody scrawling their name on the side of a tree, there was pretty direct action here,?EUR??,,????'?? said Mark Mead of Seattle City Parks.

The parks department said several neighbors filed permits to trim the trees, but all of them were denied. They plan on questioning those neighbors.

The vandalism is now considered a crime as all of the trees will have to be removed. The damage could reach up to $70,000. Park employees said it would take 30 years for another tree to reach the same height.