In the aftermath of the storms that surged through the Bay Area, downing trees and branches, Saratoga officials want to take a closer look at the health of the city’s beloved trees.
Saratoga has a rich agricultural history and has been named a Tree City USA every year since 2006. The designation gives communities a four-step framework to maintain and grow their tree cover.
But Saratoga’s award-winning tree canopy is likely being threatened by the effects of climate change, the California drought and other environmental stressors.
Saratoga City Council is set to receive a report on the state of the city’s tree canopy and options on how to move forward at its Feb. 1 meeting.
West Valley College biology professor and department co-chair Leticia Gallardo said trees across the state are facing tough conditions.
“It’s oftentimes described as a death by a thousand cuts,” Gallardo said. “You’ve got air pollution, you’ve got invasive insects, you’ve got drought, you’ve got changes in temperature profiles, climatic changes that are happening — and all those things each on their own might not kill the tree but collectively are creating a lot of stress.”
Former mayor Jill Hunter, who heads Saratoga’s Village Gardeners, said she’s seen three oak trees that were each more than 100 years old come down in her neighborhood in the past five months.
“It’s just heartbreaking because we know that we had a canopy of 49% in Saratoga, which is quite high for California, and it’s diminished quite a bit,” Hunter said. “We’re proudly a Tree City USA… and we’re losing our trees.”
While the recent storms did some tree damage, Gallardo said the biggest threat now is the long-term effects of the drought.
“When that soil is dry year after year after year, the soil starts to get more and more compacted,” Gallardo said. “Then when it does rain, there’s less micropores for the water to infiltrate.”
Trees tap into the water table, an underground reserve that sustains them during the dry season. Over time, the capacity of water tables in soils across the state decreased as the soil compacted.
“It’s kind of like a wet sponge; it can only transport a certain amount, and then the rest is left on the surface,” Gallardo said.
The city set aside $400,000 for tree replanting in the 2022-23 fiscal year budget. Saratoga named nearly 50 trees around the city as “heritage trees” that require special permits to remove or prune, regardless of their size.
One of those trees, the “Graduation Oak” at 20460 Forrest Hills Drive, had a canopy spread of around 50 feet and was 60 feet tall. It was removed in July 2022.
Saratoga has won several national awards for its trees, like America In Bloom’s Best Tree Canopy, Best Urban Forest and Best Tree Heritage Program from 2015-17.
Hunter said she hopes Saratoga will implement more tree-planting programs and incentives so the tree canopy doesn’t decrease.
“I hope people realize we have to start planting young trees to replace these vulnerable old ones that we’re losing,” Hunter said. “We have to have a program where we plant as many as we can. It’s too important for the future.”
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