City: Walnut Park trees must go

Historic walnut trees decaying due to severe pruning in 1980s

April 20, 2005

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

With the discovery of extensive decay in the walnut trees that dot one of the city's oldest parks, plans are being made to remove most of the trees that have stood for nearly 120 years.

The city's tree board will meet at Walnut Park today to discuss a plan for tearing out and replacing 48 trees over the next two to three years.

City officials are lamenting the pending loss of the trees, but say nothing can be done to save them and the shady canopy they've created over Walnut Park for decades.

The problem began 25 years ago, when the trees were "severely and incorrectly" pruned, parks and landscaping manager Ed Anchordoguy said.

"They were cut pretty drastically," he said. "The wounds were huge. The old-time pruning practices are not procedures that we use nowadays. They tend to leave larger wounds that lead to decay."

The damage is evident in almost all of the 60 walnut trees in the park and could pose a dangerous situation for visitors, the city parks department said. A branch fell from one of the trees last summer, hitting a woman and prompting the city to order an arborist's study.

Repeated studies of the trees by different experts have determined that 48 of them must go -- 14 as soon as possible.

"There are problems from root rot to trunk rot to branch and lateral rot," Anchordoguy said.

Crews have already topped many of the trees in preparation for removal.

"We've removed as much of the current decay as possible," Anchordoguy said. By trimming branches off, the city has also reduced the wind load on the trees in an effort to prevent strong winds from toppling them.

Anchordoguy's plan is to take out 14 trees within the next week and replant them in the fall. The rest will hopefully come out over the next two years, he said.

"They'll be safe for this season, but they'll continue to decay," he said. "It's sad, but in my estimation it may be time to bite the bullet, take them out and start over."

Some younger, healthy walnuts in the park will remain, he said, and a total of 52 walnuts will be replanted by the end of the project -- 48 to replace the decaying trees and four more to replace trees that were previously taken out.

The city has budgeted $110,000 for the removal and replanting and Anchordoguy said volunteer groups are offering to help, which would lower the cost. He's currently searching for a source of new walnut trees.

"Getting that particular kind of walnut tree is difficult," he said.

Once replanted, it will take a long time for Walnut Park to look as it does now, Anchordoguy said -- a canopy of leafy branches won't develop for 40 to 60 years.

The Petaluma Tree Advisory Committee meets at 3:30 today at Walnut Park, at the corner of Petaluma Boulevard South and D Street.

(Contact Corey Young at cyoung@arguscourier.com)