Home Builder Moves Olive Trees : Preservation: 1,000 trees planted in the 1880s will be temporarily relocated for eventual replanting on the site of a 640-acre master-planned community in Fontana.

Dozens of mature olive trees--some of them 100 years old--are being removed, one by one, and temporarily relocated for eventual replanting on the site of a 640-acre master-planned community in Fontana. The developer of the project will nurture them in a temporary nursery and replant them in 1991, once construction begins.

The trees, about 1,000 of them, will be maintained at an irrigated nursery set up in the southwest corner of the site under the supervision of horticulturist Wayne Morgan.

Arborist Fred Roth, a professor of horticulture at Cal Poly Pomona, was hired by the developer, Lewis Homes of California, to walk the site and inspect each tree.

Roth determined which ones would be chosen for $1-million preservation effort. The arbor specialist consults regularly with developers on tree preservation.

The olive grove, planted in the late 1800s on the San Bernardino Rancho, a Spanish land grant, has been untended for many years.

About half the 3,000 olive trees on the square-mile property will be plowed under when site preparation work begins, Roth said. Some trees could not safely be replanted. Extensive damage to trunk and branches by people who have been harvesting them for firewood has permanently damaged them. Defects in the trunk and branches would create hazards, like falling branches.

“More than half will be moved, but others are just not good enough specimens to justify moving and would possibly be dangerous,” he said.

The trees that will be saved by the conserrvation project are being pruned before removal “in a very aesthetic way,” Roth said, to reduce stress on the roots and the possibility of injury.

The removal project won’t threaten the lives of the trees, Roth said. “Close to 100% will survive. Olives are particularly durable. They can tolerate this kind of treatment.”

The trees, of the species olea europaea, do bear olives that could be preserved, Roth said. To protect residents who may be allergic to olive blossoms, a growth regulator can be applied during the bloom period that will knock the blossoms off so the trees won’t bear fruit.

Alice Oakley, marketing manager for Lewis Homes, said the developer decided to save the trees because “they’re too good an asset to kill them. “It makes good environmental sense and good neighborhood sense, and it’ll make good business sense.”

“Cities are concerned with the preservation of what’s already there. Trees add a lot to the community, and these are mature, nice trees.”

And, said Oakley, it’s a good example of a developer “doing something nice. We’re a local business; we’ve been in the valley more than 30 years and we’re real sensitive to the community.”

Randall W. Lewis, Lewis Homes’ executive vice president, said the crew hired to uproot the trees will try to move 20 to 30 trees a day.

Lewis Homes’ plans for the project, which it calls Sierra Lakes, are in the preliminary stages of the approval process with Fontana city officials.

The company is asking to build an 18-hole golf course, 2,168 residential dwellings (single and multple family), a corporate center and business park, and open-space amenities, including parks and lakes.

Most of the trees will be replanted in common areas, Oakley said.