Trees can define a neighborhood people get very passionate about trees and sometimes rebel at cutting down old trees for example which recently happened in Encinitas. Planting new trees is good for the urban environment as well as a tool against climate change. With this we have the city of San Diego's new city Forrester and also a certified arborist. Thank you for joining us.It's good to be here.Let's start with you Brian. San Diego wants to plant new trees, what's the cities tree count and what's the goal?The cities tree count is approximately 250,000 trees. That we don't know that for sure. We have an ongoing tree inventory. The canopy cover of the city is about 13% and our goal is to reach 15% by the year 2020.Supposing you are San Diego city resident and you have a space on the pavement outside your house, can you get the city to plant a tree there?Yes, you can't. We are asking property owners to go to our website San Diego.gov/trees and on that webpage they can click on the request free tree program. Horticulturalist will go out there and look at the space and determine if the tree can be planted. This is a free program. All that we ask is that the property owners agree to water the tree for the next three years after it's plantedRobin, supposing you're a homeowner and want to plant a tree in your backyard, what are some of the mistakes to avoid, mistakes people make when they plant a tree?Most of the problem lies with the quality of nursery stock and peoples erroneous ideas that they need to spend a lot of money and by the largest tree they can. Generally is counterintuitive but the smaller the tree you buy, the more likely it is to thrive in our difficult soils and will spread its roots and actually use water more efficiently over the long haul. So it will grow faster and has a better chance at living a full life.I wanted to ask both of you, some cities have a lot of palm trees. How effective are they in terms of canopy coverage and reducing carbon dioxide?We would prefer to plant broadly for shade trees as opposed palm trees. Shade trees and more benefits to us in the long term.Robin, are they easier to maintain?Absolutely not. Palm trees require fairly high maintenance unless you get a variety of palm tree that remain small and in which case it defeats the purpose. There are some shrub like ponds that are perfectly adequate for small foundation planting but in general, they don't qualify as a tree in effect they are not a tree they are related closer to grasses. They are not terribly well -- water efficient.Robin, our native trees like live oaks, are they a good choice?A Light Oak is an excellent tree. The question is, is there room? Generally when it's fully mature it can spread up to 80 feet wide in many cases in urban situations, that's not possible. Although I personally love our live oaks, I would recommend that somebody make sure that the tree that they plant, they understand the mature size, height and width and they plan for that before they planted. -- Plant it. In the nursery you see a small specimen and you cannot visualize it will actually be that large.Brian, you've just taken on the dog -- the job, the program did not have funding and your position was not filled four months. How do you think the city has demonstrated its commitment?The city is demonstrating a commitment to the urban forestry plan and the climate action plan. We have funding for the position, again, we have continued funding for maintaining and protecting the existing trees and without additional funding in place this year to plant brand-new trees.How much funding?$400,000 for tree planting and that's an additional $300,000 that was given to the program this year.Right now maintenance is important, San Diego's plan says the deferred care is one of the reasons are tree declined over the past 10 years Robin, do you have anything to say about how important maintenance is for trees?I could agree with Brian that I would go further and say there are new standards that have not been implemented either at the municipal level or the homeowner level.And what's the standard?There are basically advice and safety standards for all types of regulations not just for landscaping trees. Almost every profession or every -- everything in our society has a standard. There were standards developed and have been updated. My knowledge of the cities policies and codes is that they have not implement them that apply to inspecting nursery stock, how a tree gets planted properly and so I think if we could do better there, we would have less maintenance down the road. I think that goes for residents as well because there's essentially -- basically what the city does is emulate.Brian, what would you say that maintaining trees?And those standards are very important and it's one of those goals that we need to work on for the city, improving the standards and improving the counsel policies in place for the city and possibly improving the municipal code. Maintenance of the trees that's going on right now, we have much more funding in place than we've had in the last few years to maintain those trees, now as Robin said working on the quality of maintenance.I would like to thank both of you for joining us we have Brian Widener the city of San Diego new Forrester and Robin who is a member of the forest advisory board.
San Diego's recently installed forester says his department has an additional $300,000 in funding to plant new trees, as the city moves towards its goal of 15 percent canopy cover by 2020.
That brings the city's annual tree planting budget to $400,000, according to Brian Widener, who took over the post in September after a months-long vacancy. There is additional money to maintain the city's existing trees. San Diego currently has about 13 percent urban tree canopy coverage and wants to have at least 35 percent coverage by 2035. Those goals are one of several components in the city's Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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The funding helps pay for new trees on public sidewalks, which residents can request for free, as long as they promise to water the tree for three years. People can choose from a list of trees the city will provide, and while palms are on the list, they are not the city's first choice in most situations.
"We would prefer to plant broad-leaf or shade trees, as opposed to palm trees," Widener said. "Shade trees provide more benefits to us in the long-term."
Widener and arborist Robin Rivet join KPBS Midday Edition on Friday with more details on what kinds of trees are best suited for San Diego and its climate plan, and how to take care of them.
