Planting Trees in the Databank : Urban Forests Are Logged--in the Computer
Pity the poor Schinus terebinthifolius. Standing gracefully and uncomplainingly under the alias “Brazilian pepper tree,” 2,857 of this particular species of Schinus provide shade and oxygen for Santa Ana residents each day.
And what do they get for their troubles? A recommendation in a recently completed, $82,000 Street Tree Management Report that “high-maintenance trees such as Brazilian pepper” be removed.
“We’re phasing them out,” said Larry Christian, the city’s maintenance manager. “They have a small red fruit that causes a lot of problems throughout the year. And as soon you get through trimming them, they look like they need it again. Plus, they have a root mass that causes a lot of sidewalk, curb and gutter damage.”
Tree lovers rest assured: Santa Ana has no intention of denuding its urban forest. The peppers, and other trees slated for removal, will be replaced by species that cause less damage and are easier to maintain: London plane, Bradford pear or Brisbane box, for example.
The tree report is the result of an exhaustive, computerized inventory of every city-owned tree in Santa Ana performed by Irvine-based Golden Coast Environmental Services Inc.
Other cities are putting nature on a database, too. Golden Coast is nearly finished with a $48,000 inventory for the city of Costa Mesa, and it will soon start a project for Irvine. In the last few years, it has computerized the urban forests of downtown Orange, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara County, Encinitas and the city of Riverside--a 2 1/2-year, $160,000 accounting of 106,000 trees--among others.
In Santa Ana, Golden Coast’s arborists spent eight months walking the streets and carefully punching into computers the exact location, species, diameter, height and condition of every city-owned tree. The city’s maintenance department now has that information on a computer database and can call up a particular tree’s record, or the location of all trees of a given species, or height, or condition, at a moment’s notice.
For instance: A quick check of the data shows that Mayor Pro Tem John Acosta has one city-owned tree in front of his house on West Orange Avenue--a healthy Cinnamomum camphora, or camphor tree, about two feet in diameter and between 15 and 40 feet tall (the trees are not measured exactly but instead
placed in one of five height classifications for easier maintenance).
Other information included in the report:
* Santa Ana owns 41,259 trees worth an estimated $120 million and has room to plant another 8,386 trees.
* There are 182 species in the city, but eight make up 64% of the total. Oaks (10.7%) predominate, followed by jacarandas (10.2%)--the lavender-blossoming trees that distinguish many of the city’s neighborhoods--queen palms, peppers, carrotwood, Brisbane box, ashes, sweet gums and sycamores.
* Overall, Santa Ana’s trees are healthy. But many of its trees are beginning to show signs of “nonspecific tree decline,” a mysterious malady untraceable to any specific cause. Also, Santa Ana, being an older city, has trees that are advanced in age. “This type of population can potentially cause problems,” the report warns.
* Several species cause too much damage to sidewalks and streets or require too much maintenance, and should be phased out. Besides the Brazilian peppers, the report recommends the gradual removal of Indian laurel figs, sweet gums and date palms.
Some might question the value of all this information, but Clint Jones, Santa Ana’s maintenance supervisor, has no doubt that the new system is a wise investment.
“This is really going to tell the truth, the whole picture,” Jones predicted.
When Jones came to Santa Ana in 1974, he was told that the city owned about 150,000 trees. But Jones, who had previously supervised tree maintenance in Anaheim--a city of just 50,000 trees-- knew better.
“I wondered where they hid them all,” Jones said. “I started a card file on all of them and came up with about 43,000.”
Over the years, Jones has come to know most of his trees “by character,” he said. “You get to know the trees even before you know the streets.”
The index card file, which Jones put together with the help of his wife and city work crews, and which has served the city well for almost 15 years, is simply no match for the new, computerized system.
“If we want to know how many Brazilian pepper trees we have, and where they are, we just bring it right up,” Jones said. “It’s going to save a heck of a lot of legwork.”
The computer system will also save the city money over the long run by allowing it to schedule tree maintenance on a regular basis and keep accurate records of work performed, rather than just reacting to residents’ complaints about unkempt limbs, maintenance manager Christian said.
“We know exactly where the vacancies are now, so we can schedule planting and replacement projects,” Christian said. “And we can pick out the faster-growing species . . . and trim the trees when they need trimming.”
Besides helping cities plan tree maintenance, the database could be useful if a resident complains or sues over a city-owned tree, according to Terry Nielsen, Riverside parks superintendent.
In one recent case, the city was sued over an injury caused by a California pepper tree that broke in a storm. The plaintiff claimed that the tree had not been properly maintained, but computer records showed that it was in good shape at the time of the accident. “The judge ruled that it was an act of God and that we weren’t negligent,” Nielsen recalled.
Golden Coast project analyst Clay Martin was helping nature and technology interface one recent afternoon in Costa Mesa. Walking along Westminster Avenue, Martin quickly entered the address and species code for a Shamel ash in his portable computer, then measured the tree’s diameter, estimated its height and noted its condition, and entered that information as well. Time elapsed: Less than a minute.
“I can probably identify about 200 trees,” said Martin, who received a master’s degree in forestry from Texas A & M. “I’m not the best, though--there are some who can identify a lot more.”
Golden Coast systems manager Robert Carroll says he expects the company’s business to grow as cities realize that a tree-keeping record on index cards--or none at all--just won’t do anymore. The company sends out a quarterly newsletter (The Link to Better Urban Forestry) to its clients; a recent issue included articles about an updated version of the company’s “TreeKeeper” software and on the economic value of municipal trees.
“People and trees have got along real well for a long time,” Carroll said. “We’re trying to add computers to automate things.”
While resident Santa Ana tree expert Jones welcomes the advent of the computer in his job, he has no plans to throw away his card files just yet.
“I’m going to hang on to it until this thing really progresses on the computer . . . in a year or two,” he said. “But I really think this is the way to go. . . . If I retire in five or six years, they won’t be able to pick my brain, and this will really help the next guy to come along.”
