Editor,
Without warning, the sound of chain saws broke the foggy morning silence. One limb came down, then another, and another. Within a few hours a tree that had stood for almost 200 years was gone. Perhaps older than the city of San Mateo itself, this majestic tree was lost despite the city’s recently revised “Protected Tree Ordinance.”
Why? It’s much too easy to destroy a heritage tree. Alternatives to tree removal are not required, neighborhood notification is inadequate, and there is no heritage tree care support for property owners. Some heritage trees, by virtue of their size, age and species, contribute more value to the community than others and deserve careful assessment before being removed. Maintenance mitigations that would protect and preserve a tree — such as structural support for weakened limbs, treatment for diseases, and selective pruning that should be undertaken prior to permitting removal — are not part of the ordinance. Neither is notification of more than the abutting property owners, or guidance for property owners on healthy tree care maintenance that could prevent the need for removal in the first place. These omissions jeopardize the very community assets the ordinance is presumably designed to protect.
The city of San Mateo prides itself in protecting the community’s valuable heritage trees. But the current “Protected Tree Ordinance” has a loophole large enough to drive a giant sequoia through. The ordinance needs to be revised and this loophole closed before any more “protected” heritage trees are reduced to sawdust and pulp, and their majesty lost forever.
Keith Weber
San Mateo
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