CHRIS HAVEL, OREGON PARKS AND RECREATION - A crane lifts a historical Camperdown Elm tree from the east side of the Oregon Capitol in Salem in May 2017.

SALEM — Four historic Camperdown Elm trees that once stood at the Oregon Capitol’s east and west entrances, appearing to usher in visitors, are settling into less prominent positions in the statehouse gardens.

The trees, distinguished by their weeping boughs pruned into the shape of chunky umbrellas, were moved last week at a cost of nearly $300,000 to make way for new mechanical vaults on each side of the Capitol. The new vaults are part of the $50 million Capitol Accessibility, Maintenance and Safety (CAMS) Project, approved by the Legislature in 2016.

Two of the four trees date back to before the original state Capitol burned down in 1935. Planted sometime between 1870 and 1930, they survived the fire. Later, they were replanted in 1941 after the existing Capitol was completed, said Chris Havel, associate director of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The trees were moved again in 1977 to make room for a new wing to the Capitol. Officials at the time were doubtful about the trees’ chances of survival, so they planted two more Camperdown Elm trees as backups, Havel said. All four survived.

The Legislative Administration Office in April inked a $285,500 contract with Texas-based Environmental Design Inc. to relocate the trees. The company dug out as much of the root system as was possible, bundled the roots in burlap bags and inserted heavy pipes under the roots to support and lift the tree with a crane.

“When you play with the roots you play with the tree’s life support system,” Havel said.

Lifting the trees with the crane created a whimsical spectacle on the Capitol grounds. Havel filmed the process from Rep. Caddy McKeown’s fourth-floor office in the statehouse. The heaviest tree with roots and dirt weighed more than 50,000 pounds, Havel said.

“You would normally move the trees when the trees are dormant and have no leaves and are slumbering the winter away,” he said. “The timing of their process meant they couldn’t do that when it was ideal.”

It’s too early to say how the trees fared during the move, Havel said. If they experienced any distress, it might not show until late summer or early fall, he said.

The grounds keeper and forester will look for wilting leaves or unusually large dead patches at that time, he said.

The state opted to relocate the trees, rather than remove them, in order to save time and preserve the historical character of the Capitol grounds, a nominee for the National Register of Historic Places. The state Historic Preservation Office and the City of Salem’s Landmark Commission wanted to preserve the trees.

If the Legislative Administration Office had chosen to cut down the trees, they would have had to mitigate the historical loss by telling the trees’ story in some way. That would have delayed construction of the Capitol improvement project. The cost of that delay would have escalated the project costs by $2 million, wrote Marina Cresswell, a project manager in Legislative Administration, in an April 13 briefing.