The trees that brightened Dr. Tom Tangeman’s autumn days are gone.

About 15 trees near the Black Oak Medical Building came down late Wednesday and early Thursday to make way for a recreational-vehicle parking area on the Rogue Valley Medical Center campus.

The trees stood near the south side of the building (formerly the Medford Clinic), providing colorful spring blossoms and blazing fall leaves.

"These beautiful trees had been planted specifically for their fall color," Tangeman said Thursday. "Two days ago they put a fence around them, and (Wednesday night) a big bulldozer started taking them out."

The line of trees, which stood 20 to 25 feet high, and an adjacent hedge were bulldozed and removed Thursday.

Family members of out-of-town patients sometimes live in an RV while their loved one is hospitalized. Out-of-town patients who face repeated trips to the hospital for treatments also sometimes stay in an RV to avoid long driving trips.

Tangeman said he attended a recent meeting called by hospital administrators to learn about the $93 million expansion and remodeling, and heard that the area where the trees stood would be used as a construction-staging area.

When the trees started coming down, he called RVMC to find out what was going on. He was told, "we had to change the plans," and an RV parking lot would be built where the trees stood.

Hospital managers said the trees were approved for removal in the conditional use permit that was submitted for the project.

"I’m surprised he’s surprised," said Scott Kelly, vice president for planning, marketing and business development for Asante Health System, RVMC’s parent company. "We had to put together a detailed landscape plan. Those trees were planned to come out."

Tangeman said the trees would have given the RV park a more pleasant atmosphere. Kelly said the trees probably would not have survived the grading and preparation work that will happen on the site.

"We’re making every effort we can to keep as many existing trees as we can," he said.

Kelly said new trees will be planted after workers finish the RV park: a variety of red maple known as October Glory and an Asian elm, Green Vase Zelkova.

Kelly said the trees will be planted closer to the medical building than the former trees to provide a buffer between the RVs and the clinic.

Some people took the trees’ departure in a more philosophical light.

"The bottom line is, everything changes," said Ray Kelly of Medford as he left the clinic in a drizzling rain.

"People forget everything changes," said the 48-year-old Medford native. "When I was a kid there was nothing out here but fields."

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com