Mountain View is cutting down more than two dozen large trees near the public library this week with plans to later remove more trees in nearby Pioneer Park because of their poor condition. New replacement trees are expected to be planted this fall or winter, according to a recent city news release.
For the past 18 months, city officials have been monitoring 25 sycamore trees that line Franklin Street in front of the library. The trees are in declining health, but the city hasn’t figured out the reason for the decline after ruling out several common pathogens, according to the release.
Mountain View is developing a plan to replace the trees, but it has not been finalized yet, according to city spokesperson Lenka Wright. In the meantime, the city has deemed that the tree removals should happen sooner rather than later.
“A tree in poor condition is more prone to dropping limbs and failing in storms,” Wright told the Voice in an email. “The city has determined the trees will not recover and that removal is necessary for safety and property protection.”
Mountain View has hired West Coast Arborists to investigate why the trees are in declining health, which will also help inform the city’s replanting strategy. The consulting fees are about $5,000, Wright said.
Mountain View has a “heritage tree” ordinance designed to protect large mature trees from being cut down. Removing those trees requires a permit and a public notification process, including tagging the trees slated for removal. However, the trees being cut down by the library do not need to undergo that process because they are in declining health and not expected to recover, according to Wright.
“These removals cannot be appealed due to the condition of the trees and the related safety concerns they pose,” she said.
In addition to the 25 sycamore trees, the city plans to remove another 10 trees behind the library in Pioneer Park at an unspecified date. These include three oaks, four crepe myrtles, one liquid amber, one sycamore and one strawberry tree, Wright said.
The city has placed barricades and temporary “no parking” signs along Franklin Street for the tree removal work.
I noticed this yesterday, as I was walking over to the library. This is deeply sad, and there will be no way to replace the wonderful look, feel, and shade around the Library. Given how developer influenced the council is, it’s hard to take their reasoning at face value. where can we see the research and review that was done before they decided to destroy these trees?
According to City press release, new trees won’t be planted until Fall/Winter… very poor timing to remove that much shade for the Summer….
It seems improbable that more than one species of established trees are having such major issue all that same time, including native species like the keystone oaks in Pioneer Park. I truly hope that this can be looked at more carefully before such a valuable resource is lost. Mature trees are habitat. They provide stormwater runoff and flood management. They enhance everyone’s air quality. The canopy removes particulates and pollutants. They also provide carbon storage.
I’d much rather invest money in finding a way to care for them than think that cutting them down and ‘replacing them’ is a viable solution.
The photo showing medium sized trees with rather few leaves and some awkwardly underdeveloped branches says a lot. Those trees are surrounded by concrete, in very little soil. I bet their roots did not have space to grow, to absorb water or nutrients or whatever to grow leaves and do all the things a tree needs to do, to get energy and flourish in an ecosystem. Trees should not be planted in badly compacted soil nor in an area with too little soil for their roots to grow.
It’s like if you buy trees that could grow nicely and stick them in tiny pots in tightly packed soil. You will get the same-looking kinds of trees, regardless of the variety.
Definitely not a pathogen. That’s a tired script.
From the photo in the article (and if you check in person or on Google Maps), it appears the most likely cause is bad planting (and probably not enough dirt, and not loose enough dirt).
Whoever planted them did not leave the soil loose enough.
I doubt they were poisoned. I guess the ones marked on the map in the City link were all planted around the same time, in packed soil, maybe even by the same crew.
Maybe not their fault, either. What does the earth look like, under that concrete?
It would be nice to know when the trees were planted, as well as the reasons for removing the trees from Pioneer Park.