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A redwood tree pulled from the side of Highway 101 north of Petaluma is trucked away. On the opposite side of the freeway, a stand of eucalyptus was pulled out to make way for the freeway widening project. (KENT PORTER/PD)
By LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Petaluma hasn’t been a designated Tree City USA during the past 12 years for nothing.
Its residents care about trees — stately oaks, long-living redwoods and even the nonnative eucalyptus.
With the realization that as many as 900 trees will be cut down to accommodate the Highway 101 widening project through Petaluma, the city’s tree advocates are taking action.
The tree committee is asking the City Council to officially urge Caltrans to replace all 700 to 900 trees being removed from north of Old Redwood Highway to Petaluma Boulevard South.
Tree committee members acknowledge it might not be possible to plant new trees in the same locations where old ones were removed, because of space constraints. But they hope Caltrans may fund a tree bank of sorts in lieu of replanting them.
“Seven hundred to 900 are being pulled out, that’s a lot,” said tree committee Chairman Rod Scaccalosi.
For its efforts at protecting trees and creating a heritage tree protection ordinance, Petaluma has been named a Tree City USA for 12 straight years by the national Arbor Day Foundation.
Many of the trees that have been or will be cut down are redwoods, oaks and eucalyptus. Caltrans’ policy is to abide by the county ordinance, which only recognizes oak trees for one-to-one replacement, Scaccalosi said.
“Unfortunately, they don’t consider redwoods a tree that would be mitigated,” he said.
Dozens of eucalyptus, redwood and other trees have been removed in the past few weeks on the north end of Petaluma, creating a stark visual preview of work that will occur at other forested locations as the highway expansion progresses.
Local leaders may ask Caltrans to also commit to abide by Petaluma’s tree ordinance, which protects more varieties and sizes of trees, including generic trees of “significance.”
Or, Scaccalosi said, they may ask if Caltrans would contribute a fee in lieu of actually planting new trees, like developers do sometimes when they use wetlands in building projects.
John Maitland, deputy director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, said Caltrans attempts to replace all trees removed for highway work “when feasible.”
But the clear safety zone required along roadways is large, which sometimes squeezes out trees.
He said Caltrans usually separates native and nonnative species, offering a better replacement ratio for oaks than, for instance, the Australian eucalyptus.
“Caltrans, SCTA and the city will get together to try to work out the best plan for the re-landscaping and tree planting,” Maitland said.
But since some portions of the widening project through Petaluma aren’t funded, an agreement could be far off.
The city’s capital improvements project manager, Larry Zimmer, said any off-site mitigation plan for trees would be complicated.
“It’s common for other types of impacts, wetlands being the classic one,” he said. “But there isn’t a tree bank.”
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So what happened to this redwood tree? Do they get recycled into toothpicks?
Petaluma should request that Caltrans drop all the trees right across the freeway offramps. The city has already isolated itself from the business world they might as well make use of the trees by closing the city.
All the hydrocarbon burning non-greenies can use the freeway on ramps to leave town. With no deliveries and no new people the transformation will be complete.
@ The Truth About the Trees
“These trees related to absorption of carbon – and that will now all be gone.”
I’m not sure what the heck this sentence you wrote says, but I’m pretty sure trees don’t absorb carbon, sunshine.
You are made of carbon and I think you are thinking of CO2 that trees absorb, the same CO2 that comes out of your mouth when you exhale. Please conserve the CO2
They could remove *EVERY* eucalyptus tree in California and it would be a better place afterwards. Truly a totally worthless non-native tree. The focus should be solely Redwoods, Oak, and other *native* trees.
@ Average Joe
Unfortunately, you express the stereotypical uninformed viewpoint.
CalTrans’ count on the trees is what has been reported. Already, about 60-70 were sawed down in Northwest Petaluma.
We’re at a point in our lives here where cutting down a mature tree – multiply that times 700-900 – is a serious issue. It isn’t at all what “Average Joe” tries to portray.
These trees related to absorption of carbon – and that will now all be gone. The City of Petaluma needs to be very forthright and strong in the request to CalTrans to provide a means for replacing these mature trees that are planned for cutting.
These trees also provide nesting sites for innumerable birds, often unseen by humans.
To prevent Petaluma from becoming just a big slab of concrete barriers with widened freeway lanes – at a time in our lives when, NOW, we really need to be driving less and using alternatives modes of transportation AND driving more slowly, it’s imperative that the City Management of Petaluma stand as tall and as strong as the mature trees being chopped down – all for a sound wall or to widen a freeway with more asphalt.
Please, City of Petaluma management and elected officials – stay on this – and THANKS to the Tree Committee for bringing this forward. You need to be persistent. Otherwise, CalTrans sees Petaluma surely as just a place to do what they need – rather than, say, as in Santa Rosa, a place where negotiation and cooperation are the approaches to working with CalTrans – and CalTrans knows it.
Tree Committee? Seriously?
Petaluma’s budget woes seem a little clearer now…
Sebastoluma? Petapol?
Ok maybe my estimating skills are screwy but it looks like about 30-50 shabby redwoods were removed. Worse than the missing tress is the now open view of the backyards of the trailer park. Its more scary than the neighboring corn maze.
They did the job in two days, that would be 450 trees a day? That would be a world record.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling, nope that was a tree.