Tree Transplants : If you must get rid of one in your yard, consider: No-cost removal may be available and it could be given a new home.
There’s a growing awareness locally that there is more to be done about our environment than worry about the rain forest in Brazil or participate in an occasional Sierra Club outing to plant saplings in a local park. There’s the matter of our existing local trees.
Our trees are surrounded by perils and projects. The recent passage of a Ventura County Oak Tree Preservation ordinance, and, of course, the continuing saga of the Hope and Ahmanson ranch lands, keep bringing to public attention one big peril to Ventura County’s precious resource of trees--development.
The California Assembly, for its part, this fall passed AB 54, designed to protect urban trees statewide. The measure, now in the state Senate, has been covered extensively in the local press. But one aspect of tree preservation that hasn’t gotten much coverage is the threat posed by you and me.
What, you ask, are we conspiring to do that hurts our majestic local palms and oaks? Well, the truth is that some of us have, rather casually, been cutting them down right in our own yards--to improve the view, to get rid of the mess they sometimes cause, or to make room for home improvement.
Today, I’m suggesting that we pledge to “call before we cut.” That is, make an effort to have the tree removed--at no expense to us--so it can find a new home in the area and go on cleaning the air, preventing erosion and beautifying the environs of public places such as the Ventura County Government Center. (Did you know that those trees were pre-owned?)
The idea is that no-cost removal may be available for your tree--if it is healthy, accessible to removal equipment, safely clear of power lines and represents a species for which there is a resale market. Currently, that market includes palms under 40 feet high and broadleaf evergreens such as jacarandas, magnolias, ficus and coral trees.
I have to point out here that not every call you make will get you a free removal deal. Only about one in 10 does. But it’s worth the effort for the environment. Save one adult tree, and you’ve absorbed as much carbon dioxide as a typical car creates in 25,000 miles of driving. Keep in mind that for every four city trees that die or are removed, only one is replaced.
The list below includes some firms in Ventura County and nearby that are interested in acquiring certain specimens for resale.
Rolla Willhite, owner of Berylwood Tree Farms in Somis, told me: “I hate to see any mature trees lost. We’ll take them and store them until we find a new home for them.” He’s been doing this for decades and has noted that “After (World War II) nobody thought about planting a mature tree. In the last five years, homemakers want them.”
If you’re taken with the idea of putting out an extra tree for adoption, Willhite has a word on the timing. “Don’t wait till the last minute. Oaks should be moved in cold weather, palms in the summer.”
Many tree professionals, as well as tree activists from the area, are gathering Saturday in Los Angeles at a big national shindig (see below) for tree enthusiasts. I have worked with these folks for years, and will confess that it’s my idea of a good time--and an inspiring time--to join them for their public sessions this weekend.
Among the themes discussed will be tree inventories, such as the thorough and visually delightful book arborist Don Hodel has done for Los Angeles County. We should have one done up for our county. (Despite our local sentiment that Orange County is no example of how to live, officials there are compiling one as a guide to preservation.)
Plant Amnesty’s Ventura County organizer Walter Barrows would like to hear from folks who are interested in such a project locally.
In addition to my own admonition for today, “Urban woodsman, spare that tree!” let’s add Willhite’s admonition: “If you’re even just thinking about it, make that call.”
* FYI
A sampling of firms that will remove trees (ask about no-cost service):
* Bartlett Tree Experts, Santa Barbara, 683-0014
* Baron Brothers Nursery, Camarillo, 484-0085
* Berylwood Tree Farms, Somis, 485-7601
* Sea Tree--Tree Relocation Division, Irvine, (800) 800-9601
* Valley Crest Tree Co. San Fernando, (818) 899-1100
Tree preservation organizations:
* Plant Amnesty, regional organization of tree maintenance activists, Walter Barrows, 684-5141
* TreePeople, a Beverly Hills-based group with volunteers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, 818-753-4600.
Event: Alliance for Community Trees--Urban Forestry Perspectives. Seminar on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles. For information, call (213) 624-7630.
Book: “Exceptional Trees” (L.A. edition), Donald Hodel, available for $14.95 by calling California Arboretum Foundation, (818) 447-8207. Author is available for speaking engagements in Ventura County.
