The Bee had a bunch of short opinion pieces and cartoons about the arena by their editorial staff yesterday. Nothing too exciting. I kind of skimmed them, but they all seemed pretty balanced with no Voison-style panic.
They have an article today about the Sacramento Tree Foundation calling for a concrete plan to increase the canopy of trees, mostly in outlying areas of Sac: http://sacbee.com/content/news/story/12635910p-13489734c.html
That's great that they're trying to get together a plan. I am thinking about donating to this organization. I know that trees downtown may not be an important issue on a global scale, but it's very important to me, and I worry that people are just taking the relatively old-growth downtown canopy for granted. I have read that there isn't enough money to maintain it properly and everyone has seen how many diseased trees are cut down and not replaced. On that note, I was reading my book "Sacramento, City of Trees" yesterday and learned that the trees that drop those seed pods that I call "monkey balls" (you know, the brown, prickly things that will make you fall if you're not lucky) are called London plane trees. I also learned that two cottonwoods near Sutter's fort are the oldest downtown trees, coming in at around 130 years old or so.
Weekend wrap up later. Maybe.
I think my mom got a tree from the foundation. All she had to do was call them up and then they delivered it and planted it in her front yard in the best spot for maximum growth when she was at work. The whole thing was free and they gave her a bunch of tips on how to care for the tree. I don't remember what kind of tree it is but the foundation chooses a species that can grow in the area, that doesn't mess with other species in the neighborhood and one that will help create lots of shade. I wish I had a yard just so I could get a tree from the foundation.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I are regular contributors to the Tree Foundation, and she's even done some volunteer work for them. I think they're an excellent organization with a critical mission; having a tree canopy isn't just a nice thing, it also saves energy by providing shade for homes (meaning the AC has to work less). I regularly walk home from downtown up H, I, or J Streets, and in the summer, the shade keeps me cool. I'd love it if the 'burbs would also consider this kind of shade a necessity.
ReplyDeleteMany trees in older Sac neighborhoods suffer from past years of deferred maintenance, allowing certain diseases, i.e. the devastating Dutch Elm disease (why it's Dutch, I don't know, but don't blame me) in poorly-maintained trees to get out of hand. We had 2 large elms on 18th Street come down this past year, and only one has been replaced. I work regularly with the Tree Services unit of the Parks & Rec Dept. They have jurisdiction over any trees in the right of way as well as certain trees on private property that meet size and/or species criteria. If you could believe it, there used to be only one official City Arborist who oversaw Tree Services activities and made any decisions about whether or not trees needed to come down. When we had all those crazy storms last year, they fell several months behind in replanting. We now have 2 and hopefully soon will have 3 qualified arborists working to keep up older trees and make sure that newly-developing areas have better tree coverage.
ReplyDeleteI was quite dismayed this morning in my routine walk to work through Capitol Park to see that the biggest oak tree in the whole park had fallen over on its side. My hunch is that it's likely due to wetter-than-normal conditions. All trees in Capitol Park are meticulously monitored and maintained, so I doubt anything could have been done to stop it. Disappointing nonetheless...
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