ANTA

Sep 22, 2011 by cnps2011

ANTA – Atascadero Native Tree Association

Planting for the Future – provided November 2010

Using tree mitigation funds the city of Atascadero and the Atascadero Native Tree Association (ANTA) have planted over 1000 native trees and shrubs on about 15 acres of city property. There are now eight planting sites – Paloma Creek Park, Heilman Grove, Las Lomas open space (blue oak), Stadium Park at Pinal (blue oak), Adobe Springs and three creek reservations.

Atascadero has a native tree ordinance. Mitigation, either in the form of payment into the tree fund, replanting or dedication of open space easements, is required when native trees are removed for development. The fund doubled in size during the recent housing boom. Unfortunately this meant many trees were removed. On one project alone more then 1000 oak trees were taken out and over 1300 more were impacted.

To better understand the condition of our native forest a tree inventory was completed and paid for from tree mitigation funds. The inventory became a practical possibility with the advent of GIS and digital aerial photography. One finding was that Quercus lobata or valley oaks and Quercus douglasii or blue oaks were not regenerating. If a site supported either of these trees they were our first choice for planting. Along the creeks we also planted Platanus racemosa, California sycamore, as they also are not regenerating. Initially we planted only trees but soon decided to add shrubs for wildlife habitat and to introduce people to a larger variety of native plants.

The California Conservation Corps does the initial site preparation and planting. They also do subsequent removal of weeds. All plant materials have gopher and browse protection. We experimented with a new wire mesh gopher basket. Planting was easier but the basket rolled to ground level and the gophers hopped right in. Also the gophers seemed to prefer sycamores and chewed off the roots around the basket. We lost a lot of the sycamores.

If water was available on site the existing irrigation system was expanded. The city contracted with a water truck to water the other sites. Two sites with heavy infestations of yellow star thistle have been sprayed. We do hand pulling within the browse protection, and weed whack to and around the plants. One site can be partially mowed with a tractor.

Two years ago we contracted with a nursery used by the forest service to grow 2000 local blue and valley oaks from acorns. Most of these were given to Atascadero residents. The nursery also experimented with some bare root stock using valley acorns. Thinking the success rate might be low we planted three bare root seedlings per gopher protection. In most cases all three seedlings survived and grew like weeds. We had expected the seedlings to be ready for Day of the Oak but Mother Earth had her own schedule and we had to revise the give-away date.

On the Las Lomas open space easement we had to replant 40 blue oak that were on a downhill slope because one of the residents thought the trees would block her view.

Atascadero covers 26 square miles and is a city within a native forest. Its topography of hills, valleys and seasonal creeks supports a variety of oak trees. We have become aware of how many trees it takes to make a forest and how much work it takes. Our one thousand trees and shrubs is a very small contribution to the regeneration of our forest. – Joan O’Keefe