Urban forest may come to Surf City

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Residents soon won’t have to go to the woods to

find themselves in a forest.

The City Council set aside $40,000 last week to launch an urban forest

program in an undeveloped section of Central Park near the corner of

Ellis Avenue and Goldenwest Street.

“This is something that has been on the drawing table for years, and

it’s finally happening,” said Councilman Tom Harman, the project’s

leading advocate. “That land has been vacant for at least 25 years. It’s

really an eyesore.”

The city’s master plan for Central Park shows that area, about 80

acres of weedy land, designated for an urban forest.

An urban forest is more natural than a park, allowing trees to grow

freely, park officials said.

“I expect that we’ll be using California native trees since they’re

used to the small amount of rainfall we get here,” said John Van

Oeffelen, of the city’s Public Works Department.

The goal is to create a passive park, where residents can rest, jog or

walk through a grove of trees without leaving city limits.

Planting is scheduled to begin this fall in a two-acre plot near Ellis

Avenue. City work crews will install an irrigation system, plant saplings

and fence them off from park visitors until the trees are strong enough

to survive human traffic, Harman said.

“We’re starting small right now,” he added. “But eventually we’d like

to expand the forest across the entire lot.”

Engulfing the whole plot in trees will take a long time, Harman said,

largely because the land had been contaminated from oil production in the

1920s.

City officials, which allocated the funds during the Sept. 18 council

meeting, said crews have tested the ground to determine safe locations to

plant trees and allow foot traffic.

“Trees play important roles in our society, both in reversing the

greenhouse effect and generating air from carbon dioxide, as well as

calming our psyche,” said Jean Nagy, president of the Huntington Beach

Tree Society. “When complete, the forest will promote all those things.”