A forest grows in Newport

June Casagrande

Look around. Between the asphalt roads and the glass and steel office

buildings, a forest grows. It grows because of and in defiance of nature.

It grows on terrain that, left to its own devices, would produce only

shrubs.

It’s easy to take Newport Beach’s trees for granted. Their beauty is

such a perfect complement to surrounding aesthetic wonders that their

presence seems natural. But the roughly 33,000 trees that make up Newport

Beach’s urban forest are really the carefully nurtured outgrowth of

planning and care. They are Indian laurel fig trees, also known as ficus,

Mexican fan palms, Brazilian and California pepper trees, weeping figs,

lemon-scented gum trees and dozens of others.

“The urban creates a habitat for all life forms, not just humans. It

has a cooling effect on neighborhoods, and the aesthetic benefits are

obvious,” said John Conway, the city’s urban forester.

But one of the most important benefits of the city’s urban forest,

Conway said, is the monetary value the trees create for the entire city:

The city-owned trees themselves are valued at about $63 million. And it’s

estimated that trees increase the value of residential and commercial

property by as much as 20%.

“They’re living organisms that are also a fixed asset of the city,”

said Marcelino Lomeli, maintenance superintendent for the city’s park and

tree department, which oversees Conway’s urban forestry program.

A lot of their work takes place outside the spotlight, but sometimes,

such as at the March 27 City Council meeting, trees can become a hot

topic. About a half-dozen people showed up to implore council members to

save the ficus trees slated for destruction on Main Street on the Balboa

Peninsula. The ficus trees, some officials argue, are just a bad breed.

They cause $50,000 to $100,000 a year in damage to city property, plus

the cost of about $285,500 paid to property owners in damage claims from

1998 to 2001.

They were planted because they’re beautiful and fast growing, but

their legacy includes root-damaged sewage lines and torn-up sidewalks.

The ficus are also vulnerable to diseases that other breeds can resist.

Conway, a certified arborist who came to Newport Beach in 1993 after

working for the cities of San Bernardino and Fontana, oversees the health

of the city’s trees. He also supervises trimming by contractor West Coast

Arborists, tree removal and tree planting. But the bulk of Conway’s time

is spent working with the people he serves, for example, homeowners who

have problems or concerns with city-owned trees near their properties.

At homes with sidewalks in front, the stretch of land between the

sidewalk and the road is public property. The trees on it belong to the

city. And while this is a much-appreciated benefit to many, sometimes it

causes conflicts.

“People call asking things like what to do when a tree begins

encroaching on their view, and things like that,” Conway said.

Technology is making his job easier. Through aerial satellite images

accessible on the city’s Web site, Conway can zero in on image of an

exact address. The images are so detailed, he can actually look at a

picture of any city-owned tree on his computer while discussing it with a

resident on the phone.

When a caller complains of view obstructions by a city tree, Conway

visits the home to see what can be done. In some cases, he can help.

Other cases, such as the beachfront homeowner who recently complained to

Conway, are more questionable.

“I walked through all the rooms in his house, all three floors,

looking through the windows at the views,” Conway said.

Everything looked fine until, at last, the man led Conway to one of

his bathrooms and told him to sit down, he said. The window overlooking

the ocean was partially blocked by a tree -- but only for someone in the

sitting position.

Rare moments like these aside, Conway is often able to help

individuals and the city at large through his work. He proudly points out

that while the city planted about 500 new trees last year, it removed

only six. And Conway and Lomeli are both quick to point out that the city

has been named “Tree City USA” by the National Arbor Day Foundation for

10 consecutive years.

“It’s an honor that means a lot,” Lomeli said.

In part, it marks the city’s ongoing series of victories over some of

its forest’s worst foes. Prominent among them are lerp psyllids, called

lerp for short -- a minuscule insect that found its way to the United

States from Australia on a wood crate in 1998. First attacking eucalyptus

trees in El Monte, the destructive pests soon made their way to other

Southern California cities, including Newport Beach. The best tool in

their arsenal for battling the bugs: microinjection of insecticide,

sometimes called “injecticide.”

“It lets us treat the trees without having to spray pesticides. It’s

much more precise,” Conway said.

But the biggest threat to the city’s urban forest is, not

surprisingly, humans. Developers to be exact.

“With so much development going on in the city, keeping people aware

of the rules about the trees is a challenge,” Conway said. “It’s so

important to take care of the trees we have and to plant today so Newport

Beach can have trees to enjoy 20, 30 and 40 years in the future.”

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .