ENVIRONMENT WATCH : A Bad Time for Trees

Trees in and near cities do more than just stand around.

They eat smog and replace it with oxygen. They trap some rainfall that would otherwise carry all manner of toxic and bacterial waste to sea through storm drains. Not to mention shade on a hot day.

The American Forestry Assn. is in Los Angeles for the fifth annual conference on what it calls the urban forest, to spread the gospel of the tree and its need for tender care.

But the recession throws off the timing of this message in ways that would drive the average stand-up comic screaming from the stage.

A press conference to decry declining city budgets for tree care shared headlines with a disclosure that the city of Los Angeles will go $67 million into the red this year, even with drastic budget cuts. Pay cuts are being imposed on teachers, just to keep classrooms open.

This is not an ideal time to be passing the hat for tree care, but that does not change the basic message. Cities could use twice as many trees as they now have, but in a survey of 20 cities the association finds four trees dying for every one planted.

That same survey shows that in most of the cities the budget for tree maintenance is going down, not up. In Los Angeles, trees will get a maintenance visit every 15 years instead of every six. San Diego’s budget is in good shape and Orange County says it is holding its own.

But for most cities, trees will have to stand in line until good times return, waiting for the help both they and the people they shelter and furnish with oxygen need.