OAK PARK : Volunteers Will Replace Lost Oaks

A group of volunteers are planning to brave bad weather today to reforest Oak Park with native oaks.

The project by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District involves planting 600 oak saplings at Oak Canyon Community Park, volunteer coordinator Sharon Hamilton said.

Planting begins at 8:30 a.m. and will continue until 11:30. Volunteers have been asked to bring a shovel or ax, mulch, fertilizer and a bucket to the park at 5600 Hollytree Drive.

Park officials have encouraged local residents to adopt a gallon-sized tree, then nurture it for the year it takes to grow roots. The saplings will be protected from rodents with mesh cages.

The project is aimed at replenishing the oaks lost each year to development. Next year, park officials hope to plant 2,500 more saplings in Oak Park and 1,500 in Simi Valley, Hamilton said.

“If we don’t replant the oak population, we’re going to lose it,” she said.

The saplings, of the variety called coast live oaks, were cultivated by Mitsuwa Nursery in Moorpark.

With care, the oaks should have a survival rate of 70% to 80%. Volunteers have already planted 25 saplings at the park. Another 225 have been planted across the street.