City
Begins to Replace Palisades
Park’s Signature Trees
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By Jorge Casuso
September 17 -- The City
last week began removing 44 dead and
dying Date Palms from Palisades Park,
launching a plan to replace about
a sixth of the signature trees that
have graced the walkways of the scenic
seaside promenade for generations.
The trees, which the City began removing
on Thursday in the northern stretches
of the park, will be replaced with
Royal Palms, a fast-growing tropical
species that can grow as tall as 60
to 80 feet.
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The fungus killing
some of the approximately 300
Canary Island Date Palms in
Palisades Park only attacks
the specific species and “produces
short-lived air-borne spores
as well as spores that will
live in the soil and plant tissue
for long time periods,”
according to staff.
First discovered in the U.S.
in the 1970s in California,
the fungus “causes the
palm to wilt by obstructing
the water-conducting tissue,
resulting in a dried out appearance
and ultimately death,”
according to staff. If the infected
trees are nor removed, the disease
can spread, staff said.
A declining
date palm with a dead one to
the right. (Images courtesy
of the City of Santa Monica)
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“It is necessary to replace
these trees as they begin to show
signs of decline and/or die to reduce
the continued spread of the disease,
eliminate potential tree failures
and ultimately reduce liability exposure
to the city,” according to a
staff
report to the City Council.
The first palms to be removed were
in the section of the park between
Marguerita and Inspiration Point,
said Walt Warriner, the City’s
Community Forest & Public Landscape
Superintendent.
“The removals will then proceed
south towards Colorado at a pace of
roughly three to five palm removals
per day,” he said. “The
entire project should take approximately
two to three weeks to complete.”
The new trees will be planted in
the same spot as the old ones in the
spring, giving them time to acclimate
to their new environment before winter
sets in, staff said.
But it is critical to remove the
dead and dying palms before winter,
when the heads of the palms tend to
fall, staff said.
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The Canary Island
Date Palm is the fourth most
predominant tree in the city's
tree inventory and the signature
tree of Palisades Park, according
to Warriner.
The Royal Palm, staff said,
is a worthy replacement.
“Although other palms
were considered as possible
replacements, the only one that
seems to match the stateliness
of the Canary Island Date Palm
and will retain the grand appearance
of Palisades Park is the Royal
Palm,” staff wrote.
Royal palms
when fully grown can rise to
80 feet.
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Once established, the disease can
be transmitted from palm to palm through
equipment used to prune “infected
leaves that do not yet show symptoms
of the disease,” according to
staff.
“There is no research indicating
how long the disease has been in a
tree before it begins to show the
symptoms,” staff wrote. “In
fact, two Canary Island Date Palms
that were planted as part of the Palisades
Park renovation project in 1999 have
since died.”
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