It is well known that the “urban forest” of Rossmoor is so critical to its community that the Rossmoor Community Services District employs a full time arborist to keep a close eye on keeping the trees planed and healthy.
According to Rossmoor Arborist Mary Kingman, the heavy rains experienced by California earlier this year have definitely had an impact on the community’s tree population.
“California experienced heavy rains during the first three months of the year. And because of that, a lot of the trees had a lot of growth,” said Kingman during her report to the Board of Directors in October.
She said the double whammy of heavy rains in March followed by high winds associated with Tropical Storm Hillary caused limb failures and the loss of trees.
“In August, tropical storm Hillary went through the area dumping a lot of rainfall in a short period of time. With winds of up to 32 miles per hour, we had a lot of limb failures,” she told the Board.
“We had a total of 52 limb failures recorded, four small trees failed along with big limbs that failed because of safety issues, some trees had to be removed,” said Kingman.
Fortunately, she said, the community escaped major property damage due to the failures.
“Luckily,” she said, there was not much damage on the ground other than a broken car antenna. We were very fortunate there.”
Also, she said the district was fortunate that 75 percent of the limb failures were from two species, liquid amber and Chinese mustache.
Kingman said the district’s trees were getting so much water they required a tremendous amount of pruning.
Kingman got the Directors’ attention by letting them know 44 residents within the community have refused trees altogether.
Board Vice President Michael Maynard wanted to know if tree refusal among residents. “When residents say, ‘leave me alone, I don’t want a tree.’ Is this a trend we need to be worried about,” he asked Kingman.
“It stays around there but it has grown in the last few years,” said Kingman.
Board President Tony Demarco asked Kingman if the district had the budget to plant those 44 trees and if she could find other “spots” in the district’s parks or other spaces to plant them.
Kingman said there is a sufficient budget and spots available in Rossmoor Parks, but the arborist said she was saving many of the spots in parks for the district “Memorial tree” plan, which she said is growing in popularity.
Kingman said there was ample room along the district’s bike to school parkways to plant new trees “but it is filling in,” she said.
Also, residents who want a second tree can have one installed for approximately $270. If residents have had a second tree removed, there is no cost for the second tree, she said.
In other action, Kingman told the Board that within the last reporting period, Rossmoor;
-has pruned 66 trees.
-removed 77 trees.
-issued five citations for unauthorized trimming.
-had a total of 100 tree and limb failures, including those attributed to the storm.
-had two residents file small property damage claims for tree damage.