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 When
you drive on Highway 113 in Woodland, you might notice that our fair city
doesn't quite live up to it's name. The area around the on and off ramps
is pretty bare, and actually goes a little beyond ugly. Luckily
for us, while most Woodlanders spend their Saturday morning eating donuts,
drinking coffee, and watching TV- there is a group out there who spends
their Saturday mornings eating donuts, drinking coffee and planting trees.
In fact, on a recent rainy October morning, that group, the Woodland
Tree Foundation, along with a bunch of volunteers, planted about
40 trees, and 20 bushes in the on and off ramp areas of Highway 113 and
Main Street.
About the Woodland Tree
Foundation
WTF was founded in 2000 as a way to enhance Woodland's urban forest,
beautify the community and improve the environment for current
and future generations. WTF is an all-volunteer organization with
a board of directors that meets quarterly at the Next Chapter Bookstore.
Currently, WTF is focusing on planting trees along Woodland streets
to fill gaps in the tree canopy and has adopted major stretches
of Highway 113 near Woodland. Plans are also in the works to adopt
the I-5/West Street quadrants, another Woodland gateway, and begin
planting and watering trees.
During its first four years of existence, WTF has planted over 600
trees in an around Woodland. Volunteers must water many of the trees
for 2-3 years until the trees are established. WTF currently has
a State Department of Forestry grant to plant over 200 15-gallon
trees in Woodland and volunteers are always needed for planting
and watering. For the upcoming watering season beginning in April
2005, volunteers with pick-up trucks are needed for watering trees
twice per month, which requires a time commitment of about
5 hours each month. Water tanks will be provided to volunteers.
To volunteer or to be put on the mailing list, please contact David
Wilkinson at 662-9202 or davwilk@pacbell.net.
Donations are always welcome and are tax deductible. The WTFmailing
address is P.O. Box 8753, Woodland 95776. |
Dave and Cheema.
First, the volunteers, and leaders of the Woodland Tree
Foundation met at McDonalds on Main Street. This was a good start to the
day, as there is nothing better than planting trees while your gut is
wrenching through 2 sausage egg and cheese biscuits.
Demonstration of first tree planting.
Next we went over to the area we were planting the trees-
if you get on Hwy 113 on Main Street, heading south, you will see the
new trees on your left hand side. We all gathered around while Dave Wilkinson
demonstrated the proper way to plant, and stake the trees. Lucky for us
the holes were already dug, and doing the rest of the work was pretty
easy, and fun.
There were about 12 volunteers helping out the regulars
from the Tree Foundation. This included 6 students from UCD that were
part of the 'Circle K' club. From their website:
What is Circle K?
Circle K International is the world's largest collegiate service organization.
Circle K is a club found on college campuses that promotes service and
fellowship to its members and to the community that it serves. The club
is sponsored by Kiwanis International as part of their youth services
programs. It allows the young people of today to become more responsible
leaders of tomorrow. Circle K Clubs are found at over 500 college campuses
in eleven nations. Each club provides thousands of service hours each
year in a variety of projects both on a local level and on a world wide
level. Each weekend you can find hundreds of Circle Ker's attending
their various projects like beach cleanups, working with elderly, cheering
at Special Olympics, or collecting goods for those in need.
The Circle Kers were a good bunch of people- and any college student
willing to spend a Saturday morning out in the rain planting trees, is
rare.
Some of the volunteers standing by the first tree.
When my daughter asked me why the heck I wanted to go out to plant trees,
I started to give her all of the standard reasons:
- Planting trees remains one of the cheapest, most effective means of
drawing excess CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere.
- Trees act as natural pollution filters. Their canopies, trunks
and roots, filter polluted particulate matter.
- Trees use nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium--byproducts
of urban living--which can pollute streams.
- Property values increase 5-15% when compared to properties without
trees
- One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out
four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people."
-U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Trees provide shade, trees animals the habitat they need to survive.
But really- I'm not a total moron. My daughter is 14 years old-
I COULD have told her all of those things...and it would
have been like talking to the cat, neither one really gives a damn about
that stuff.
But I did tell her that we got free donuts. That seemed
to make sense to her.
Savin' the world, and eating donuts.
Making new friends...and yes, my arm really is that white...
This is Lynette- one of the Circle K'ers. She's from Hollister, CA. She's
going to UCD and is in some sort of management program. Planting trees
is just her side gig. (Rosie is in the background on the right)
I really know very little about the political situation in Woodland.
I don't know who the 'good' people are, and I don't know who is a crazed
lunatic. And I have no idea at all which side of the whole flood-wall
issue I should be on. But, I will say that this guy- Jeff Monroe, a City
Councilman- seems to be a good guy. He was out in his own truck, helping
out and watering trees. So rather than sitting on the City Council and
just looking down on all of us little people- he was out getting dirty
and trying to make the city better for the future. And ladies- he looked
good doing it.
(That was not a political endorsement- just my own opinion...except for
the part about looking good. My wife threw that in.)
(of course, ours were a lot smaller- but this is what they'll look like
someday.)
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Chitalpa 'Pink Dawn'
Deciduous. Informal, floriferous, rapidly growing medium-sized
tree, spreading or slightly upright to 25', with equal spread. Ascending
branches form broadly oval crowns. A significant pest problem may
be powdery mildew.
Trunk -Smooth light gray becoming darker and roughened
with age.
Foliage -Narrow pointed, 4 to 7" leaves are
prominently veined on undersides.
Flowers/fruit -Abundant compact terminal clusters
of 15- 40 large 1" Catalpa-type flowers from white to pink
bloom over a very long season, May to November. Flowers at 3 to
4 years of age. Does not produce pods, as do both parents, since
it is a sterile hybrid.
Cultivars -'Morning Cloud', an upright and vigorous
tree with very pale pink to white flowers. 'Pink Dawn' is smaller
with light pink flowers and more spreading growth.
Clearances -Suitable for 3' minimum parkways,
medians or cutouts. Suitable under utility lines. Good for street
sides, medians, parks and lawns.
Culture considerations: Drought tolerant, single-trunked
tree often producing sprouts at base. Best flowering with high heat.
Tolerant of high winds. Shelter from ocean winds at seacoast exposures.
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Goldenrain Tree
Deciduous. Small and informal, slow to moderate growth to 25' and
15 - 25' spread with rounded crown. Dense branching.
Trunk - Bark is light brown, ridged and furrowed.
Foliage - Leaves to 15" long, with 7 - 15
leaflets, each 1 - 3" long and 1 1/2" wide, may be toothed
or lobed.
Flowers/fruit - Small yellow summer flowers 1/2"
long grow in showy bunches 8 - 20" long. The fruits are papery-walled
green, then salmon capsules, resembling lanterns, oblong-ovoid,
1 - 2' long, turning buff to brown in fall, persisting into winter.
Clearances - Suitable for 5' minimum parkways,
medians or cutouts. Suitable under utility lines. Good for street
sides, medians, and parks and lawns.
Culture considerations -Best in neutral to acidic,
well-drained soils. Drought tolerant with age. Chlorosis in exceedingly
alkaline soils.
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Chinese Pistache
Deciduous. Rounded tree with slow growth to 40' and as wide. Young
tree often has an asymmetrical limb structure, but when mature,
structure is good with dense foliage and an oval to rounded shape.
Trunk - Thin platelets of light gray bark tinged
with shades of light orange.
Foliage - Leaves are compound, 10" long,
a shiny dark green with 10 - 16 paired green, lanceolate leaflets
each 2 - 4" long by 3/4" wide. Beautiful fall coloring
is scarlet, crimson, orange and sometimes yellow.
Flowers/fruit - Flowers are not showy. Fruit on
female tree is bright red, turning a dark blue, flattened and round,
1/4" in diameter, in bunches of 4" long clusters. Female
trees take several years to bear fruit and only then if a male tree
is nearby.
Cultivars -The grafted male is recommended.
Clearances - Suitable for 5' minimum parkways,
medians or cutouts.
Good for street sides, medians, parks and lawns.
Culture considerations - Tolerant of most soil
types and moderate alkalinity, as well as most water and wind conditions.
Thrives in hot climate and is relatively drought tolerant once established. |
While writing this article I started to wonder what type of people
wanted to help their community, and were out planting trees. Then I wondered
what type of person does NOT like trees? This is the list I came up with.
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Jane Fonda is a well known tree-hugger. Her career
went way, way down after Barbarella, but many of us remember her fondly
in this role. Jane Fonda is great though, because conservatives hate
her-yet liberals are embarrassed of this picture. |
Saddam Hussein ran the country of Iraq.
Have you seen the pictures of Iraq?
Not very many trees!
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Give a hoot- don't pollute. Woodsy the Owl is totally
pro-trees, and was a large party of my Saturday morning cartoon tradition
in my childhood. He is also very quiet, and is never a dirty bird. |
Woody Woodpecker - This annoying little bird splits
his time between harassing everyone who is around him, and destroying
trees.
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Jane Fonda really loves trees. She deserves another
spot on the list. Besides, who can resist a picture of Jane Fonda
holding a gun? |
Martha Stewart is on this list for 3 reasons:
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Jane Fonda looks better
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Martha is in jail
-
This was a good picture
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From: anonymous - Date: 27-Oct-04 |
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that girl in the fur hoodie is hot! hollaholla!
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From: Iggy - Date: 22-Nov-04 |
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The Woodland Tree Foundation sounds like a great group. How about a "where-are-they-now" about the Woodland Tree Commission? The last I heard about them was when they got a last-minute reprieve for the ancient olive trees along Gibson Street. And speaking of those olive trees, where are THEY now? Most that didn't die as a result of being moved were eventually cut down to make way for the new Bel Air. I wonder how much all of that moving and cutting cost. I can pretty well guess who paid for it.
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From: anonymous - Date: 03-Jan-06 |
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We just recently moved to Woodland. Do you know if the city of Woodland offers trees for free to be planted at our back yard???
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From: candi - Date: 06-Jan-06 |
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hey anon, the city will give a rebate up to $75 for tree(s) planted in the front yard. Check the City of Woodland Homepage and there is a link to the rebate and how it works. good luck from Woodland now living Down Under :)
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