Photo by Jim Malone

A few months back, a group of ultimate Frisbee players who used to congregate on the Ellipse for their Wednesday night games felt they were pushed out of the oblong park next to the White House. Their reasoning? A growing number of trees being planted by the National Park Service.

Half-jokingly, one of the Frisbee league’s organizers, Armand Lione, sent a letter to Michelle Obama, pleading with the first lady’s love of physical fitness to intervene on what the disc-tossers saw as a National Park Service campaign to push their years-old league out of the park. Lione also took his concerns to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), asking her to look into the matter. Besides ultimate Frisbee, the Ellipse is enjoyed by recreational soccer, football, softball, and even kickball leagues.

Well, it appears Norton got something of an answer, though the National Park Service isn’t to blame for the sudden dendritic surplus. Norton was told NPS planted the additional trees at the behest of the U.S. Secret Service, according to a letter she sent back to Lione. In the letter, dated Tuesday, Norton writes that she summoned representatives of both NPS and the Secret Service to her office last week to inquire about the increased tree planting on the Ellipse.

“At this meeting, I learned that the trees were planted to increase security at the White House following an incident,” Norton writes. The letter does not state what incident prompted the need for more trees just south of the executive mansion.

But Norton continues, saying that the issue is not settled just yet. She writes that NPS is holding a meeting next month at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to get public input on the ongoing maintenance at President’s Park South. Representatives of both the Secret Service and Norton’s staff will be in attendance, too.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on July 9. So schedule your Frisbee games early that evening.