Samantha Alleman is excited about the reopening of the Memorial Oak Grove after years of looking at it through a chain-linked fence.”It’s a great place to relax and talk with friends,” the English junior said. “I can’t wait until they fix it up and move the mounds of dirt [left over from the construction].”The Memorial Oak Grove reopened earlier this week after being fenced off and used as a staging ground for the LSU Student Union construction.Union officials plan to landscape the Grove in the spring, making it the focal point of the new Live Oak Lounge, said Shirley Plakidas, LSU Student Union director.”Our goal is to make it a much nicer area, creating an enjoyable place for people who are walking through or stopping to converse,” she said.Plakidas said Union officials are in discussion with a landscape architect to plan the new design, which will include a sidewalk running from the southwest parking lot — currently used as a construction staging ground — and more lighting.The area will be blocked off again during the landscape process, but Plakidas said the end result will be worth the wait.”It will be more like a memorial,” she said. “These trees are stunning and have been here much longer than the Union, [which was built in the ’60s].”The Memorial Oak Grove was dedicated in 1926 as a memorial to World War I veterans, according to the University’s Web site. Each one of the 30 trees is dedicated to a fallen soldier, except for one tree, which is dedicated to The Unknown — representing all soldiers reported missing in action.Plakidas said the Union took extra precaution to protect the trees during the construction, like installing an irrigation system and building a wooden platform to protect the roots from trucks.Joe Cirfasi, history freshman, said the Grove is a good place to study because of its quite nature.”It’s one of the better places on campus,” he said. “The trees really give it that old-school feel.”—-Contact Steven Powell at [email protected]