City Removes Reed Park Trees

By Jorge Casuso

June 21 -- Worried that they pose a threat to public safety, the City this week removed seven eucalyptus trees that had shaded what is now Reed Park for more than 60 years.

The eucalyptus trees were slated for the axe after the species -- commonly called "widow makers" because of their tendency for limb failures -- injured at least two people in Santa Monica in the last year and caused damage to several properties, costing the City more than $1 million in legal costs.

"It's not all about the lawsuits, and it's not about money," said Walter Warriner, the City's urban forester. "It's about public safety.

"It's up to the urban forester to decide what trees to remove based on risk," Warriner said. "We don't want anyone to get hurt."

The City began removing 77 of Santa Monica's 517 mature eucalyptus trees and trimming the other 440 last month after a consultant found they could pose a danger to the public, Warriner said.

One of seven trees removed from Reed Park, this one "had internal decay at the base of the trunk and no structural roots to speak of below the trunk base," Warriner said.

The consultant's report identified seven trees in Reed Park (formerly Lincoln Park) that posed a potential danger after taking into account several factors, Warriner said.

They included the health and condition of the trees and what part was likely to fail, what the tree would hit if it fell and the size and part of the tree that would fail.

"In Reed Park on any given day there's a lot of people, and these are pretty big trees, so the risk rating is high," Warriner said.

The trees were removed despite efforts by a handful of residents that included a web site to "save the trees," a letter to a local paper lampooning the City's alarm over killer trees and last ditch phone calls to City Hall by a science writer.

"The risk of getting hit in California by lightening is greater than getting hit by a tree," said Reinhard Kargel, a local reporter whose work appears in several science magazines.

"The (consultant's) report doesn't show that there is an imminent risk," he said. "The report doesn't say cut down these trees."

Kargel, who lives near Reed Park, said the trees are "a definitive fixture of my neighborhood... that is irreplaceable."

"Every tree has risks," he said. "Are we going to cut down all the old trees? I feel that is a decision the public has to make."

Kargel said the decision should have been made by the City Council after hearing from residents. "If there is no imminent risk, staff should not make that decision," he said.

Judy Franz, the City's spokesperson, said that there was a special community meeting and tour of the area where residents expressed little or no opposition to removing the trees.

"There were some people who were pleased," she said.

Another of the removed trees "had extensive internal decay at the base of its trunk and an old sidewalk under a portion of the trunk flare," Warriner said.

In addition, signs were posted on the trees announcing they were slated for removal. The plan to remove the trees was also posted on the City's web site as an information item to the council, which was fully aware of the plan.

"The City's position hasn't changed," Franz said. "The council was informed by the city manager a long time ago that we were going to do this."

Warriner said the trees were already reaching the end of their life span. The species, which can live 300 to 400 years in their natural environment, commonly last only about 60 years in an urban setting, Warriner said.

"These trees are subject to a variety of impacts, anything from park usage, to laying new turf to sidewalk and infrastructure repairs," he said.

The seven Eucalyptus will be replaced with camphor trees, that have "a large canopy, much harder wood and (are) longer lived."

Currently, the new trees range in height from 12 to 17 feet.

Kargel was not impressed by the new trees, which he said will take years to grow.

"There's no use the public gets out of them," he said. "The park will have no shade. You have pretty much a wasteland."

Among the 77 Eucalyptus trees across the city slated for removal, 14 are on Broadway between 11th Street and Centinela Avenue; 11 are on Seventh Street between California Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard; six are in Palisades Park and four in Joslyn Park.