In Hixon v. County of Los Angeles (1974) 38 Cal. App. 3d 370, petitioners sought mandamus to compel the county to obtain an EIR for a street-widening project which caused the actual and threatened removal of roadside trees. By the time of the hearing on their petition the county had already completed phase I of the street widening project. It had removed approximately 1,874 mature trees and had already replaced them with some 3,847 smaller trees. The court agreed with the county that preparing an EIR for phase I of the project alone would be futile. "The project is ended, the trees are cut down and the subject is now moot insofar as resort to a planning or informational document, which is what an EIR is." On the other hand, the court noted an EIR could be prepared for the second phase when planned, and "at that time the cumulative effect of both Phase II and Phase I can be considered in compliance with CEQA." (Hixon v. County of Los Angeles, supra, 38 Cal. App. 3d 370, 379.)