Trees found felled, defaced

Tree killers appear to be on the loose in Costa Mesa parks.

The city is seeking anyone with more information on several incidents in Fairview and Canyon parks in which dozens of pine trees have been defaced or felled in recent weeks.

Operators of the free model train rides at Fairview Park are baffled by several cases of apparent “tree murder” near their tracks.

“We’ve been tracking it and working with the police on it,” city Maintenance Services Manager Bruce Hartley said.

So far, he said, there have been two reported incidents of “arboricide” at Canyon Park and three at Fairview Park. The incidents apparently started at Canyon Park.

The vandals select pine trees — or those that look like pine trees to an unpracticed eye, Hartley said — and cut them with hand saws. One such saw was found at Fairview Park, alongside a cluster of defaced trees.

Some deciduous trees like cottonwoods and sycamores also have had their branches snapped by people making a path through Fairview Park, Hartley said.

Everything from saplings to mature trees has been affected. The trees are green and healthy.

Roughly 95 cedar pine trees were planted in Fairview Park about 10 years ago after being rescued from a local mall’s holiday display, Lori Tolan of the Orange County Model Engineers said. The trees were put aside to be dumped, but people “adopted” them and planted them along the railroad line.

“They’ve since grown to be 20 to 30 feet tall,” Tolan said — but are systematically being chopped to about 4 feet in height.

The first incident was in late August, Tolan said, with others on Sept. 2, Sept. 13 and earlier this week.

“The trees were slashed in the middle of the night,” Tolan said. “They are very selective. They pass by all these trees and go straight to the cedar pines.”

Her husband “babysat” remaining trees near the tracks at Fairview Park until 2 a.m. one night earlier this week, but came back in the morning to find they had been hacked.

The nonprofit Orange County Model Engineers group runs the five-mile, 7 1/2 -inch-gauge Goat Hill Junction Railroad at the park. Their free train rides on the third weekend of the month have become popular for area families.

A portion of the track that used to be covered by a canopy of pine trees now resembles a barren Mojave desert vista, overlooked by what now appear to be shrubs.

Theories for the vandalism abound; one possibility is that people are targeting the trees because they are non-native. The fact that the trees were cut in two parks rules out the likelihood that someone’s view had been obstructed, Hartley said, as well as the possibility that someone had a grudge against the model train enthusiasts.

“These people are targeting an area that a lot of people know and love,” Tolan said. “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t love the trains.”

Anyone with information on the tree vandalism is asked to call the city at (714) 754-5123.