DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Stumps remain after
workers cut down 50 Eucalyptus trees that lined Wilshire Boulevard
in front of the UCLA Medical Center last week.
By Rachel Makabi
Daily Bruin Contributor
Only mounds of dirt remain as university officials order that
the 50 Viminalis Eucalyptus trees, which have lined Westwood
Boulevard for 72 years, be cut down for safety reasons.
“The bottom line is that this is a safety project,”
said Jack Powazek, assistant vice chancellor for Facilities
Management.
But others disagreed with the removal of the trees.
“It is an outrage to me,” said long-time Westwood
resident Steve Goldberg. “Something that links the school to
something that old with history, and they just decide to cut it
down.”
UCLA decided to spend $69,000 replacing the 50-foot Eucalyptus
trees with Canary Island pines after an investigation by two
independent arborists, university officials said.
“These trees are near very heavy traffic areas and having
received reports from certified arborists that these are a safety
hazard, we must remove them,” Powazek said. “The safety
of students, staff and visitors is more important than these
trees.”
But Goldberg said the university could have approached the
situation differently, such as trimming the trees or only cutting
down the dangerous ones.
He added that if the university had to cut down the trees, they
should replace them with other Eucalyptus trees instead of Canary
Island pines.
The Daughters of the American Revolution originally donated 80
Eucalyptus trees in 1929. The university has since removed 30 trees
because of old age, disease and decay.
“Six of those 30 actually fell, and two of those hit
cars,” Powazek said. “The last one (hit) on the first
day of classes last fall. Luckily it hit the trunk of the car
““ half a second earlier it would have hit where the driver
was.”
Bob Hansen, one of the independent arborists that conducted the
investigation for UCLA, said the trees became sick from several
years of expansion.
After widening Westwood Boulevard, the new curb came within
inches of the tree roots and restricted the root zone ““ the
area where the roots needed to spread, Hansen said.
“Maybe a couple of trees could have been saved for a
couple more years, but this was the right thing to do,” he
said.
Hansen also cited pipe trenching, a change in the level of soil
surrounding the roots and the concrete from the Medical Plaza
placed over roots, as contributing to the trees’
deterioration.
According to the Tree Advisory Commission for the City of Sierra
Madre, Canary Island pines grow to about 90 feet.
Powazek said the university decided to use the pine trees
because of their strong root structure, straight growth and
fast-growing qualities.
But according to the commission’s Web site, Canary Island
pines have relatively shallow and aggressive roots and can damage
walkways if they aren’t given enough space.
On Tuesday, several people protested the cutting down of the
Eucalyptus trees on Westwood Boulevard. According to the June 20
Los Angeles Times, environmentalists criticized the university for
not informing the community in time for an independent arborist to
investigate.
Powazek said the university sent out a memo to 2,500 university
officials.
Many students, who had already left for summer break, did not
know of the affair.
“This is the first time I am hearing of this,” said
Christine Riordan, a fourth-year Spanish and international
development studies student and a member of the Environmental
Coalition. “But it seems like something that I would have
gotten involved in.”
Gail Cowling, executive officer at Facilities Management, said
the university will cut down the trees in Westwood on June 18-29 as
part of a first round. The second round, which will include the
Eucalyptus trees along the northern part of Sunset Boulevard near
the University Elementary School, will begin in August.
Superintendent of Grounds Michael Kitasato said everything from
the trees will be biodegradable. Wood from the trees will be ground
into chips and spread on areas of campus for weed and erosion
control, he said.
Corrina Aragon, business manager of Patient Relations in the
Medical Plaza, said she will miss the trees, but she understands
that they must be cut down for safety reasons.
“It is very sad to cut down beautiful trees like
that,” Aragon said.
With reports by Michaele Turnage, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.