Recent wildfires in Los Angeles have further challenged tree advocates who are already grappling with drought, improper trimming, and neighborhood opposition. The fires have toppled trees, scorched canopies, and posed new difficulties for replanting efforts.
Tree advocates are facing challenges due to increasing drought, improper trimming, and opposition from neighbors who dislike leaves and sap. The recent devastating fires have further exacerbated their efforts. City arborists have captured alarming images of large trees toppled onto homes and roadways by the powerful Santa Ana winds, which fueled the fires. Other images reveal scorched tree canopies.
The winds caused significant damage to trees in South Los Angeles, Watts, and Inglewood, historically disadvantaged neighborhoods with limited shade and TreePeople's primary focus areas.The air quality remains poor, preventing field crews from safely working. When conditions improve, they anticipate finding numerous snapped, broken, or dried-out young trees. New trees are particularly vulnerable, often requiring volunteers to water them for the first few years. Past wildfires and extreme wind events have already resulted in the loss of many limbs and trees, especially those planted in narrow strips of land where soil is scarce.Urban tree experts will assess the damage, re-stake, and retie toppled trees and remove and replace lost ones. However, replanting trees in burned areas is more difficult due to climate change. While many of the city's mature trees are 30 or 40 years old, they germinated during less extreme conditions. Some experts view tree loss as an opportunity to educate residents about suitable local plants, moving away from the iconic, non-native species often seen in Hollywood films. They advocate for replacing non-native species like palm trees with trees that provide shade and can withstand heat and drought. Trees like the coast live oak are a good option, as they are native and fire-resistant.Aaron Thomas, director of urban forestry at North East Trees, emphasizes the need to rebuild with native flora, citing his family's experience with the Eaton Fire. Despite his brother's home being destroyed, five coast live oaks in his backyard survived. He believes that cities should prioritize planting trees with climate-resilient features, such as large canopies.However, planting such trees can be challenging. They might obstruct driver visibility, and space limitations can make it difficult to accommodate their root systems. Professor Will Berleson acknowledges that it will take time for neighborhoods to recover from the fires. He emphasizes the need to continue building and rebuilding urban forests in a way that enhances their resilience to extreme weather events
URBAN FORESTRY CLIMATE CHANGE WILDFIRE REFORESTATION TREES
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