With self-described pride of having the largest tree canopy of any inhabited area in Orange County, the Rossmoor Board of Directors suggested erecting signs to tout it and even suggested more funding if needed as the community’s resident arborist presented her annual tree report to the community.
Once a year, the Rossmoor Community Services District requires its full-time arborist, currently Mary Kingman, to present an annual report on its trees.
“Mary is very popular in the city,” said General Manager Joe Mendoza. “I want to commend Mary,” he said in introducing her, “we’re constantly trimming trees and we’re jumping forward and doing additional trims throughout the year, making sure it’s safe.”
Kingman said overall, the RCSD tree department planted 146 new trees in Rossmoor while only 89 trees were removed.
She said the trees were removed “for various reasons, which include fungal or bacterial disease.” Trees die for a host of reasons, she said, which include decay, drought, stress, and structural or hazardous issues.
There was one complete tree failure that was the result of the roots family below the soil level, she said, which did not result in personal injury or property damage.
During the year, there were a total of 424 resident service requests and inquiries regarding trees and the majority of those were for tree planting, trimming or removal of tree-health concerns and reports of limb failures.
Kingman said the staff constantly maintains a vigilant policy and “we will continue to plant trees and we want to promote an age and species-diverse urban forest.”
Further, Kingman said they will encourage residents to take part in the tree selection process, and “I believe that that helps and promotes the residents to care more for the trees when they’ve been able to select the tree in their Parkway.”
The arborist presented dramatic images taken from space of Rossmoor’s dense canopy, comparing it to virtually barren communities of Midway City and Stanton, noting that Rossmoor could boast of perhaps the densest urban forest in Orange County.
Kingman said the community was planning an Arbor Day tree-planting event in April, again working with The Youth Center and perhaps also with local Girl Scout troops.
“Hopefully,” she said, “some of the school districts can also get involved,” said Kingman.
Director Jo Shade said she had contacts with local Girl Scout troops and offered to work with Kingman on the event. In addition, she suggested Rossmoor erect signs around the community, including at its entrances, to reflect its pride in its urban forest.
“It’s fantastic,” said Shade, noting that Rossmoor is “a great tree community. You know, it’s I guess, in Orange County, we really don’t have anything out there that stipulates that, I mean, can we get some signage out?”
She said signage could only instill more pride in the community and let visitors know as they enter. Shade also thanked Kingman for recently planting an “Australian Willow” in her yard.
“It’s true that Mary has a passion,” said First Vice President Michael Maynard. He asked to discuss “the concept of artificial grass hurting our trees.”
Kingman said the district has already had a limb failure on a small tree this year, in part caused by “root cooking.” Never a big fan of artificial lawns, Kingman said even though most synthetic laws are supposed to be made of a permeable material, “it’s plastic and it also heats up, so it could be cooking the roots.”
“It’s killing anything beneficial in the soil. If you want to kill anything in your soil you could just cover it with plastic,” said Kingman, “so it’s killing anything beneficial and there are a lot of beneficial organisms and soil that trees need.”
“Most people believe synthetic turf is such a good thing because it’s saving water,” she said, “so they are shocked that I even had issues with synthetic turf.”
Questioned by Board President Tony DeMarco, Kingman said Rossmoor has developed its own policy for synthetic turf installation.
Kingman said there are strict rules to follow when planting artificial grass that is designed to allow the trees to breathe and drink. Although some of the artificial lawns are ‘permeable,’” she said residents who make the transition must follow specific permitted guidelines.
When residents do improperly install synthetic turf, she said it is up to the county to enforce the guidelines.
Orange County is the enforcement arm for violations of synthetic turf, said Kingman, noting the county’s agency tasked with enforcement seems to be a bit slow.
“I think they are a little bit behind in that type of enforcement,” she said.
Maynard also questioned whether or not the district should accelerate its current four-year grid coverage policy to three, suggesting that even if the district has to invest a little more in the program to better maintain its trees, most residents would approve.
Kingman said they are looking at various options.
Director Nathan Searles congratulated Kingman for the district planting nearly twice the number of trees that were lost in 2022.
“It’s awesome,” he said, “I mean, you know, I want to begin by acknowledging it looks like we’ve planted way more trees than we had to remove this past year.” Also, he asked Kingman about working with OC public works to figure out something to help residents with concrete poured almost to the base of their trees.
Kingman said she has approached OC code enforcement and public works about the issue but it is basically the same story.
“They are a little behind,” she said, “I believe because they’ve had some position changes and with the pandemic, so we need to explore that more this year and try to figure something out.”