COUNTYWIDE : Group Goes to Bat for Oak Trees

Oak trees don’t have an easy life.

Their longtime enemies, root fungus and bark beetles, can attack and kill an oak outright. But increasingly in Orange County and elsewhere, oaks have a more menacing enemy, said tree specialist Jim Barry.

“More of the trees I’m worried about are being bulldozed,” said Barry, 37, a Fullerton arborist. “That’s the main problem. We’re starting to develop in the woodland areas (of Orange County) where we’ve never developed before.”

Much of the early residential and commercial building destroyed non-native citrus trees, he said. But as the county builds southward and into the foothills, woodland areas with natural groves of old trees are being targeted for destruction, he said.

Barry, along with other members of the fledgling Tree Society of Orange County and the county chapter of the California Oak Foundation, is trying to increase public awareness of tree destruction and the benefits trees provide in urban areas.

He will speak on the care of oak trees at a seminar Sunday at Cal State Fullerton. Another speaker, San Juan Capistrano nurseryman Mike Evans, 35, will talk about the oak’s place in California history.

The 5-month-old Tree Society will hold the seminar from 2 to 4 p.m. at the university’s Ruby Gerontology Center to kick off 1990 as the Year of the Oak, Tree Society president Thomas A. Larson said.

The state Legislature so proclaimed this year to increase public awareness of the dwindling habitats of the native California oak tree. The resolution warns that urbanization and farming have eroded more than 1 million acres of oak woodlands since 1945.

“California native oaks are endangered, and we’d like to see them protected,” Larson said. “Literally thousands of oak trees have been removed” by Orange County development.

Because oaks are an integral part of California’s heritage and because the trees help support a variety of wildlife, they deserve to be protected, Larson said. “Also, they’re such gorgeous trees,” he said.

The society is writing an oak protection ordinance to be submitted to each city and the county in about three months. The California Oak Foundation also has asked every city in Orange County to adopt a resolution declaring 1990 the Year of the Oak, said Michael Mahoney, foundation chairman. So far, Yorba Linda, Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano have done so.

“There is a lot of destruction that is happening out of apathy, really, and nobody knows about it,” Mahoney said. “Trees are being removed that don’t have to be removed.”

The foundation hopes to encourage developers to build in and around wooded areas rather than clear them, which makes buildings even more attractive to buyers, Mahoney said.

The Tree Society’s goal is to increase the number of trees in Orange County by 80% in the next 15 years, Larson said, by persuading businesses, schools and cities to begin planting now.

“We’re still getting our sea legs as an organization because we’ve been in business only a few months,” Larson said. “We’re an environmental group, but we’re very practical in our approach.”

The society hopes to go into schools to teach children about trees and start on-campus tree farms, which could be used for science projects, Larson said.

Larson said he once asked students where air comes from. “Air conditioners” was their reply.

“It shows you how far kids are from understanding the natural cycle.”

The society also plans to enter the political arena to help the environment in other ways, said Alden Kelly, a consulting arborist and Tree Society vice president.

“Tree planting is focal, and it’s what most people are interested in, but there are so many other ways to improve the environment,” Kelly said. “If we ignore those other methods, we’ll be hurting the trees.”

OAK TREE CARE

* Don’t water in summer. The water promotes root fungus, which can kill the tree.

* Ensure the oak receives enough water in winter.

* Don’t plant water-hungry plants under tree.

* Minimize pruning. Overpruning causes weak shoots to grow, which are attacked by insects.

* Avoid placing garden furniture under the tree. The weight packs the soil and makes it difficult for the tree to absorb water and nutrients.

* Fertilize in early spring.

Source: Tree Society of Orange County.