NATCHEZ — Though trees sprout through the stabilized bluff on Roth Hill Road, engineers say there’s no need for concern.

Eddie Templeton, geotechnical engineer with Burns, Cooley and Dennis — the company that drafted the bluff stabilization plans — said this is common.

“I’m not surprised it’s happening,” he said.

City Engineer David Gardner said it’s just a matter of public works getting out to the site to spray vegetation killer and cut down existing growths.

“That all is part of the routine maintenance of the bluffs that we have to do,” he said.

Having the trees grow inside of the wall is not detrimental, he said.

“It’s not going to cause the wall to fail,” Gardner said.

Templeton said much of the same.

“I don’t know that it would be a significant hazard, per se,” he said.

But if left the way it is, it could cause some problems, he said.

“I would think that ultimately it could cause some degradation of the timbers there that are supporting the soil between the beams,” Templeton said.

Gardner said if the growth were to continue to amass, it would cause the 50-year lifetime of the wall to decrease.

“It just may reduce the life of the wall where you may have to do some major repairs to the wall a lot soon that you should have to,” Gardner said.

Or, if a tree was allowed to grow into full adulthood, it could cause a large gap between the boards which could lead to erosion, he said.