FULLERTON : 40 Meet to Discuss Tree-Planting Plan

Suggestions bounced back and forth when about 40 people met this week to discuss the “greening of Fullerton.”

The meeting, sponsored by the city’s maintenance department and Fullerton Beautiful, was part of Fullerton’s efforts to hear residents’ feedback concerning the development of a master plan that will serve as a guide for future tree plantings.

Sylvia Jarvi, president of Fullerton Beautiful, a nonprofit organization that focuses on city beautification, said the meeting was a success because it produced a lot of positive feedback and suggestions from the community.

“We had about 60 to 70 suggestions about what should be done to help with this master plan,” Jarvi said.

In addition to the city’s plans for new tree plantings, Jarvi said the meeting also focused on trees that are already planted and how to ensure the health and preservation of the city’s existing “community forest.”

Jarvi said the ideas suggested at the meeting included starting an education drive to teach residents the proper way to prune trees and establishing a tree-planting program that would involve the city’s schoolchildren.

Bob Savage, director of the city’s maintenance services, said Fullerton has always maintained a high priority for the city’s trees and has been named a “Tree City USA” for the past 10 years by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

To qualify as a Tree City, Savage said, a community must meet four standards: It must have a tree board or department, a community tree ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an annual Arbor Day observance.

Because Fullerton is one of the county’s older cities, Jarvi said, trees are plentiful. However, because there are so many, the city needs to adopt a program that would maintain existing trees and protect certain species and trees.

“We can’t assume that our trees will be getting the proper care,” she said. “There must be a system that would plant and replace trees that have died or have gotten old.”

While arbor reverence seemed to dominate the meeting, some trees weren’t on some of the residents’ hit parade.

Ficus and ash trees got mixed reviews, Jarvi said. Bottlebrush trees seemed to get an overall thumbs down.