Urban
Forester Makes Case for Removing Downtown Ficus Trees |
By Jorge Casuso
March 5 -- Through months of emotional testimony, rallies
and hunger fasts to save the Downtown ficus trees, Santa Monica's
urban forester Walt Warriner has tried to get opponents to see the
trees for the forest.
While Treesavers has focused on what the group envisions as an
environmentally-friendly City’s move to wipe out the canopy
of trees that line 2nd and 4th streets, Warriner has focused not
on the forest, but on the individual trees -- 54 to be exact.
Branches wounded by passing trucks and buses.
(Photos courtesy of the City of Santa Monica) |
The other 99 ficus trees will stay in place
and 12 of the 31 trees slated for relocation will replace
some of the 23 trees that will be cut down because they are
“structurally unstable,” Warriner told The
Lookout.
The end result, Warriner notes, is that in a forest of 153
trees, 42, or less than a third, will be removed from the
three-block stretch along two Downtown streets, and new trees
will take their place. |
“The ones that are targeted for removal are interspersed,”
Warriner said. “We wanted to take out the worst trees, but
not clear-cut an entire block. We want to allow the (new) trees
to grow before we remove others.
“This is good urban forest management,” said Warriner,
noting that all the trees along 2nd and 4th streets were planted
at the same time some 40 years ago.
“We have an aging forest. We have many trees reaching the
end of their useful life span. We don’t want to see all the
trees dying at the same time.”
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The 42 ficus trees removed from the area will
be replaced with 139 new Ginkgo trees, adding not only a new
generation of trees, but diversifying the urban forest, making
it less susceptible to diseases that attack an individual
species, Warriner said.
“The Dutch elm disease wiped out those trees across
the nation,” said Warriner, referring to the wilt fungus
that killed 77 million trees by 1970. |
Closeup of wounded ficus branch |
“Sometimes people think trees are forever and they’re
not,” Warriner said.
That is especially true of urban trees planted along busy streets.
The 23 ficus trees slated for removal have been badly wounded by
trucks and buses that rip their limbs, which then start to decay,
Warriner said.
“This is a busy transit corridor, so wounds are high up,
because the buses and trucks are going by,” Warriner said.
Leaning ficus tree |
Other trees had their roots pruned
for hardscape repairs and have started to lean, making them
unstable, he said.
“Some start leaning almost immediately,” Warriner
said. “Others take months or even a year or two.
“We could be facing the potential for liability,”
he said. “It’s not a risk I’m willing to
accept for the public.” |
While Treesavers has focused on the entire canopies that line the
two streets, unsuccessfully urging the City’s Landmarks Commission
to designate them as landmarks, Warriner is keeping his sight on
the individual trees.
“He knows every tree,” said Kate Vernez, a senior analyst
for the City Manager who recently walked the two streets with Warriner.
“If you go out with him, you get it. He has carefully looked
at each tree.”
The 12 trees that will be relocated to other parts of the project
area will be the larger trees, which will replace trees that will
be removed, he said.
The smaller trees will be moved to parks and residential streets,
including the proposed Palisades Garden walk that is part of the
Civic Center Village development, City officials said.
The removal of the Downtown trees is part of a $8.2 million streetscape
project, which calls for adding decorative up-lighting to the remaining
ficus trees and repairing sidewalks or curbs damaged by the trees.
The plan also calls for enlarging tree wells and installing new
pedestrian lighting, as well as enhancing the six mid-block crosswalks
on 2nd and 4th streets.
Although a judge last week denied a temporary injunction requested
by Treesavers, City officials said it will take some time before
contractors begin removing the trees. (see
story)
Treesavers has been holding classes in civil disobedience and says
members of the group plan to chain themselves to the threatened
trees.
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