News of the Arroyo
Title: | Arborists say Arroyo Seco oak tree may fall at any time |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2004-06-13 |
Summary: | June 13, 2004 - The stately oak at the Bird Fountain gets a bad prognosis from city-hired arborists. The Urban Forestry Advisory Committee will discuss the trees fate this coming WEdnesday. |
Author: | Emanuel Parker |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | Dying landmark PASADENA -- It has towered over the Arroyo Seco for more than 250 years, long before Pasadena became a city, back to a time when California was a sparsely populated Spanish outpost. But the end may be near for the Bird Fountain Oak. Two registered consulting arborists examined the big tree, a coast live oak, and concluded it is a victim of advanced decay that has eroded half of its trunk. Rot, the tree\'s lopsided shape and the trunk\'s weakened state are causing the tree to slowly rotate, they said, and it could fall at any time. \"There is imminent risk of failure,\' said arborist Jan C. Scow. \"I concluded the tree is hazardous and should be cordoned off until it can be removed.\' \"It\'s not coming back,\' said arborist Cy Carlberg, who added there\'s a saying oak trees spend half their long life growing and the other half slowly dying. \"It\'s at an advanced stage of progressive decay. It\'s an old tree. Trying to save it only prolongs the inevitable. Eventually it will fail without warning,\' she said. The beloved tree is across the street from 460 S. Arroyo Blvd. and overhangs the fountain that gives it its name. Rosa Laveaga, Arroyo Seco Park supervisor, said concerns about the tree surfaced in January when visitors began commenting on the large cavity at its base. Carlberg said that cavity takes up 23.5 percent of the tree\'s circumference and it and other cavities take up half the tree\'s girth. She said arborists use a formula that says a tree can\'t be saved if cavities exceed 30 percent of its circumference. \"Our feeling is that it\'s necessary and prudent to remove the tree to maintain public health, safety and welfare,\' said Martin Pastucha, the city\'s director of public works. Kenny Graham, a city employee who cares for thousands of city- owned trees, said the oak\'s \"body language doesn\'t lie.\' \"It\'s already dropped a section (a limb). That was the first signal. It\'s been pruned, propped up and cabled, but it\'s starting to spin now. That\'s the second signal. It gave all the warnings it could. If you don\'t act on this someone will get hurt.\' Randy Stamen, a Riverside- based certified arborist and attorney who specializes in tree- related injury cases, said he always advises clients to err on the side of caution and remove potentially dangerous trees. \"This is a big tree and oak wood is dense and heavy,\' he said. \"When oaks fall, they tend to kill people or make quadriplegics out of them.\' Lou Ann Sobieski lives across the street from the tree. She was resigned to losing it and said, \"If you have to take it out replace it with the same kind of tree that will have 200 years of life.\' She offered to help pay for such a tree. But Ray Dashner, with the Arroyo Brigade that works to preserve the Arroyo Seco, and civic activist Robert Wittry said the tree should be cordoned off and allowed to die naturally and with dignity. The arborists warned a Santa Ana wind could topple the tree, so Dashner wants it subjected to a stress test to determine how much pressure the trunk can withstand. Wittry said that might harm the tree and proposed a structural engineer examine it. Another public meeting about the tree, before the Urban Force Advisory Committee, will be held Wednesday at the Jackie Robinson Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave. Pastucha said after that they will ask the City Council to approve its removal. -- Emanuel Parker can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4475, or by e-mail at emanuel.parker@sgvn.com . |
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