City to Lose Keeper of Its Urban Forest : Thousand Oaks: William Elmendorf will leave behind 200,000 trees, including those the town is named for.

Thousand Oaks will soon lose the city official charged with protecting the majestic trees for which the city is named, officials said Thursday.

And, because of hard economic times, it will not be able to immediately replace William Elmendorf, who this week submitted his resignation effective May 31 as urban forester with the city Planning Department, officials said.

The 34-year-old Elmendorf, who has worked for the city for four years, plans to teach at the University of Pennsylvania, human resources manager Greg Eckman said.

A self-described “tree-hugger,” Elmendorf will leave behind about 200,000 trees, not the least of which are the about 5,000 native oaks that are protected under city ordinance.

Assistant City Manager MaryJane V. Lazz said the city has one other staff member with forestry experience and uses a consultant on forestry issues. But Elmendorf is the only full-time forester on the staff, and he has been especially intense about tree preservation, she said.

“It’s unfortunate,” Lazz said. “We’re really sorry to lose Mr. Elmendorf.”

Because of a citywide hiring freeze, Elmendorf’s position will remain unfilled at least until July, when officials complete next year’s proposed budget. The position pays $32,000 to $40,000 a year. City officials refused to release Elmendorf’s exact salary.

“We’ll have to look at where we’re at in the budget process, but I think trees are still going to be a priority of the city,” Lazz said.

In addition to Elmendorf’s position, six other full-time city jobs will remain frozen indefinitely, including a “water cop,” or code enforcement officer for the Utilities Department, Eckman said.

“We hope the existing staff will absorb the additional responsibilities,” he said. “It may be that some of the things we set out to do just simply can’t be done.”

Elmendorf declined to comment on his resignation. But in a previous interview, he said Thousand Oaks, as the city’s name suggests, would be a different place if no one protected its trees.

“If we didn’t do this, there would be indiscriminate removal of oak trees . . . ,” he said. “And we’d lose our namesake.”

One of Elmendorf’s primary duties is to oversee permits issued to developers for the destruction of oak trees. Under city ordinance, if an oak is chopped down, it must be replaced. A full-size oak can cost up to $70,000, city officials said.

Elmendorf was first hired by the city as an oak code enforcement officer. Two years ago, he was promoted to urban forester.

The curly-haired, ruddy-faced Elmendorf is well known in City Hall and to the public as a sort of municipal “tree cop.”

He patrols the city in his truck looking for diseased trees, and he frequently makes house calls to diagnose homeowners’ tree problems.

Under Elmendorf’s leadership, the city spent $100,000 two years ago to conduct a detailed tree census. Once the census was completed, the city adopted an extensive tree-maintenance plan, a virtual bible for tree-planting in the city.

The City Council recently approved the creation of a tree advisory board, which would oversee disputes over whether to preserve or chop down trees.

At the time of his resignation, Elmendorf was working on an application for a state forestry department grant that would finance the planting of even more oak, pine and sycamore trees over the next few years, Lazz said.