County introduces new Fitzgerald plan

Posted: Thursday, May 29, 2014 9:48 am

County introduces new Fitzgerald plan By Julia Reis [ julia@hmbreview.com ] Half Moon Bay Review |

San Mateo County Parks officials have scaled back the number of cypress trees they plan to remove from the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve after Coastsiders sent numerous emails to the department expressing concerns about the need for tree removal.

Of the groves 1,068 trees, 11 living trees and 34 dead trees will be removed, and 56 will be trimmed, according to a revised plan that was introduced to Coastsiders at a meeting on Thursday evening. While the exact number of trees County Parks planned to remove was not known in January when vegetation management plans were first discussed with the public, County Parks Director Marlene Finley said at the time that 134 trees were dead and most were slated for removal.

Around 20 people turned out for the meeting and provided a lot of feedback for the department, Finley said.

A number of people were urging us to really look at the aesthetic of which limbs do we trim and how do we go about trimming them, Finley said. It was very constructive and I feel confident that were on the right track.

To help Coastsiders visualize what the forest would look like with these trees removed and trimmed, County Parks plans to enlist the help of a local photographer who volunteered to Photoshop a current picture of the trees to reflect these changes.

The revised plan also calls for removing the nonnative ice plant close to the mouth of San Vicente Creek and replanting it with shrubs and small trees.

Suggestions that arose from the meeting included a request to remove the eucalyptus trees within the cypress grove and not to fence off a rare chestnut tree in the forest. Finley said County Parks will likely forgo fencing off the tree and will look into removing the non-native eucalyptus.

After the outcry in January, County Parks indicated in April that it was no longer looking to adopt a five-year project plan, but rather to complete stages as pilot projects that would be revised and adopted on an individual basis.

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County introduces new Fitzgerald plan