Commentary: A generous donation of trees helps heals an aching heart

When the Pacific Parks Landscaping truck, pulling a trailer containing nine 10-foot-tall red oak and golden rain (aka Chinese lantern) trees in 15-gallon pots, pulled into the Auburn Recreation District's Overlook Park at 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, May 30, it was the answer to a dream and salve to my aching heart. Late last year, a whole section of Overlook Park, more than half of one of the long elliptical areas of grass and trees between the rows of parking, had been clear-cut by a tree service hired to mitigate risk from trees. As the low bidder for that job, it appears they were acutely cost-conscious, and it was less expensive to cut down problem trees, including a 60-year-old giant sequoia, than to correct a tree's problem by cabling its trunks together, doing heavy pruning to stunt a problem trunk, or injecting insecticide for tree borers. The result was particularly devastating for me because, starting in the winter of 2000-01, I began planting trees along all the perimeters of the mostly barren, long, grassy islands between the parking rows at Overlook Park so that someday, people could sit in shade and park their cars in shade on hot spring and summer days. Today, a majority of the trees at Overlook Park are trees I planted, and shade is becoming more available every summer. After a few months of mourning the dead and knowing, as one of ARD's five-member Board of Directors, that we always have more things that need to be done than money to do them with, I started asking around Auburn, looking for the biggest trees someone would be willing to buy or donate toward growing a replacement forest. I found sympathetic ears, generous hearts and enthusiastic support with Nancy Decker, owner of Pacific Park Landscaping, and her Chief Operations Officer, Dan McElvain. I had asked for 4-foot trees in 5-gallon pots and was startled, grateful beyond words, when the duo said, "Your urban forest will come back sooner with 10-foot-high, 15-gallon trees than 4-foot-high, 5-gallon trees. But they're heavy, so we'll deliver them." It was like asking for a pony for Christmas and getting a full-size Arabian endurance horse. ARD offers more than just gratitude for its benefactors. All donations to ARD are tax-deductible at market value through the 501(c)3 Friends of ARD charity. In this case, local nurseries typically charge $100 each for trees like the red oak and golden rain in 15-gallon pots, so Pacific Parks Landscaping, in addition to profuse gratitude, received a tax-deductible donation receipt for $950 – $900 for nine trees and $50 for delivery. There's still no replacing Overlook Park's 4-foot-thick and 45-foot-tall giant sequoias, and the sadness of those who sat under it and enjoyed looking up at it will last a long time. There don't appear to be any tall giant sequoias on the market, but a 30-foot-tall coastal redwood can be bought for $12,000, and planting with a crane costs another $13,000. If anyone wants to make such a donation to Overlook Park, call District Administrator Kahl Muscott at 530-885-8461, ext. 102. In the meantime, planting unexpectedly large trees in unexpectedly large holes had to be done to get a young replacement urban forest on its way. I had settled in for a long, lonely, arduous task that first evening when two passers-by, Neal Wathan and a young man known only as Everett, offered to help. Two days later, I was joined by ARD's Cathy Warford, Wathan again and another passer-by, Paul Nolan. Many hands make work easy, so if you want to build muscle, warm your heart, make a tree feel good and help start a replacement urban forest, call me at 530-878-1901. For more information on how you can help the Auburn Area Recreation and Parks District serve our community better and enhance health and happiness for all of us, call ARD District Administrator Kahl Muscott at 530-885-8461, ext. 102.