california shade newsletter, fall 2006 ~ california urban forestry program

8/9/2019 California Shade Newsletter, FAll 2006 ~ California Urban Forestry Program

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California ShadeANewsletter From The California Department ofForestry and Fire Protection Urban Forestry Program

Hot Topics

Proposition 12 GrantsLook for new simplifiedgrant applications at theUFEI web site atwww.ufei.org. Grants forfiscal year 2006 include:Green Trees for The

Golden State for communitytree planting, Leaf-It-To-Usfor tree planting projects atCalifornia schools, and AnUrban Forest For Every Cityfor education, demonstrationand community urban forestinfrastructure developmentprojects.

Fall 2006

2004 Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai Joins Canopy &The City of East Palo Alto In Ceremomial Tree Planting

On April 30, 2006 Canopy, a Palo Alto-based non-profit treegroup and the City of East Palo Alto hosted A Sunday WithWangari Maathi Ceremonial Tree Planting in East Palo Alto. Theevent celebrated the tenth anniversary of Canopy and launched

the Trees For East Palo Alto Initiative, which will plant at least1,000 public trees by the end of 2010. The event was sponsoredby the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, theU.S. Forest Service, Hewlett Packard, Pacific Gas and Electric,Lockheed Martin, Jensen Corporation, and numerous other localbusinesses.

A native of Kenya, Professor Maathai received the 2004Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable develop-ment, democracy and peace. Her achievements as a leadinginternational environmentalist and stateswoman started with thesimple act of planting a tree. When she began planting trees in

- continued on page 3

Life Frames Inc. - Bayarea non-profit uses Prop.12 urban forestry grant toplant 200 trees at SanMiguel Child DevelopmentCenter in San Francisco -see page 2

Pruning Strategies ForMature Trees - Article andphotos - see page 5

CDF hires two new urbanforesters - see page 9

Japanese Dodder invadesCalifornia - Invasive vinefound in several counties -see page 10

AT&T donates $1 milliondollars to the Arbor Day

Foundation - see page 4

Online information - a fewgood websites to visit - seepage 8


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Proposition 12

Urban Forestry Program Newsletter

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Life Frames Inc. Uses Urban Forestry Grant to Plant 200 Trees atSan Miguel Child Development Center in San Francisco Life Frames, Inc. and A Living Library

have planted 200 California Native Treesas part of the development of two newLearning Zones at the OMI / ExcelsiorLiving Library & Think Park at the SanMiguel Child Development Center insouthwest San Francisco.

The Redwood Reading Circle, theLearning Zone and the World StageMulticultural Learning Zone are now filledwith a variety of native species of treesincluding redwoods, redbuds, severalvarieties of oaks, buckeyes, ceanothus,bigleaf maples, bay laurel, toyon, andothers. The trees were funded by aProposition 12 grant through theCalifornia Department of Forestry andFire Protections Urban Forestry Program.

My students are very excited about thetransformation thats happening in our yard, saidAurora Hernandez, Lead Teacher at San Miguel ChildDevelopment Center. They are eager to go andwork, collecting rocks, spreading soil and plantingtrees and seeds. We brought out books to our new

Redwood Reading Circle and they wereoverwhelmingly joyous.

Ten students from Grinnell College in Iowa flew toSan Francisco and spent their spring break preparing

the ground and then planting the trees with studentsfrom San Miguel Child Development Center, JamesDenman Middle School and Lick Wilmerding HighSchool and with A Living Library teachers. Doug

Wildman of Friends of the Urban Forestdemonstrated the correct way to plant a tree, insertstakes,and tie the trees.

Grinnell student Elisa McCool said, I woulddefinitely say that being involved in A LivingLibrary was a fulfilling, holistic, and nurturingexperience. I felt really engaged and involvedand it was gratifying to begin to transform anarea of concrete into a living, dynamic,

beautiful learning and teaching environment.Gary Louie, Project Manager of the

Facilities Department of San Francisco Unified

School District, said, I was very impressed tobe in an urban setting to see A Living Library,such a positive program where students andthe community come together to make it areality. Its wonderful to see a garden like thiswith native trees. We hope it becomes ashowcase and model for other school

programs.

Children skip through the Redwood Reading Circle at A Living Library & Think Park .

Site of the Redwood Reading Circle before planting.


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the mid 1970s, it was to address problems that poorwomen faced because of uncontrolled deforestation.She realized that without trees these women lackedthe environmental benefits trees provide: shade fromthe hot sun, firewood for cooking, fruit for theirfamilies, wood for building material, and the vitalincome and self-reliance that comes through thesale of tree-related products. She developed this

concept into a broad-based grassroots organization,the Green Belt Movement, which in turn led to theplanting of more than 30 million trees in Africa. In aTime magazine interview after she was awarded theNobel Peace Prize she was asked, What next?More trees, she answered, I will grow more trees.

The community tree planting took place at theintersection of Bay & Newbridge Roads in East PaloAlto with presentations by Ruben Grijalva, Director ofthe California Department of Forestry & Fire Protec-tion, and Ruben Abrica, Mayor of East Palo Alto.Children and adults alike joined Professor Maathai in

planting the trees that will grow into the WangariMaathai Grove. The evening program featured adinner and keynote address from Professor Maathai.

When we plant trees, we plantthe seeds of peace and theseeds of hope.

-Professor Wangari Maathai

Canopy, a Palo Alto-based urban forest advocacy

organization that works to educate, inspire andengage the community as stewards of young andmature trees, has partnered with the City of EastPalo Alto in The Trees for East Palo Alto Initiative.This cooperative effort will plant and install irrigationfor 1,000 public trees by the end of 2010, providethree years of follow-up care, educate residents inthe planting and care of community trees and assistthe City of East Palo Alto in creating a comprehen-sive municipal urban forestry program. Canopyrecently secured a $142,000 Proposition 12 grantthrough the Department of Forestry & FireProtections Urban Forestry Program that will coverthe planting of more than six hundred trees in areasthat currently have little to no vegetation and will alsofund the intiation of an urban forestry program withinthe City of East Palo Alto.

Olea africana - African Olive: Native to a largearea of Africa, this savanna tree is very similar tothe Mediterranean olive which grows well in thisarea. An olive branch is a universal symbol ofpeace.

Persea Mexicola Grande - Avocado: A strain ofsmall-fruited avocado native to Mexico, this

variety has been chosen for its ability to with-stand cold temperatures.

Persea Fuerte - Avacado: A commercial strainof large-fruited avacado that is a hybrid of WestIndian and Central American avocado varieties.

Casimiroa edulis - White Sapote: This productivefruit tree native to the highlands of centralMexico has large sweet fruit with white or yellowcustardy flesh.

Metrosidero excelsa - New Zealand ChristmasTree: This hardy south pacific evergreen treeproduces a good show of red flowers in the sum-mer with a few flowers through much of the year.

Arbutus Marina - Marina Madrone: This treeshares the beautiful bark and trunk of the Califor-nia madrone, but is smaller. It is native to SanFranicsco and serves as the local addition to thegrove. It is also noted for its abundant flowersand red and yellow fruit.

The Wangari Maathai Grove

The tree species planted to create theWangari Maathai Grove were selected to

symbolize the many cultures and parts ofthe world represented in the East Palo Altopopulation and for their adaptability to theEast Bays climate and soil.

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Right: Glenn Flamik,Urban Forestry ProgramAdministrator for theCalifornia Department ofForestry & FireProtection, helps BakariSpencer, age 4, plantone of the trees in theWangari Maathai Grove.More than 350 peopleturned out for the

planting and dedicationceremonies.


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AT&T Donates $1,000,000 to the National ArborDay Foundation

On Friday, April 21, 2006, standingatop the Fresno Grizzlies dugout betweenthe 5th and 6th innings, with lightningflashing, thunder clapping, and rain

pouring, AT&T Pioneers presented acheck to the National Arbor Day Founda-tion for $1,000,000. On hand to acceptthe check on behalf of the National ArborDay Foundation was Darla Mills, ForestryAssistant II from the California Depart-ment of Forestry and Fire ProtectionsUrban Forestry program.

AT&T Pioneers was founded in 1911as the volunteer arm of AT&T. Today it isan employee group consisting of almost

800,000 current and retired AT&Temployees who have pledged to make Below: Check presentation ceremony at the Fresno Grizzlies baseball game

their communities better places to live. In order to help conserve natural resources, AT&T collaborated withAT&T Pioneers to spread the word regarding a paperless billing campaign. AT&T agreed to donate one dollarto the National Arbor Day Foundation for every customer that signed up for paperless billing. The companyhad no idea what the response would be and were completely overjoyed when the millionth customer signedup.

Goleta Valley Beautiful Plants Live Oak Tree In Honor of CDF

On May 20, 2006 the Goleta Valley Beautiful Board of Directors presented an Honor Tree Award to the

California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (CDF) at their 32nd Annual Awards Banquet. The awardrecognizes CDF for their commitment to enhancing the beauty of Goleta and the Santa Barbara Community.Goleta Valley Beautiful, a non-profit organization for tree education, youth community activity, urban forestrymanagement and neighborhood beautification advocacy has planted a Coast Live Oak tree at the PageYouth Center in Santa Barbara, California near a collectionof other Honor Trees. The plaque shown at the right islocated at the foot of the tree.

Goleta Valley Beautiful has planted more than 800 treesin the Goleta area using Proposition 12-funded tree plant-ing grants awarded through CDFs Urban Forestry Pro-gram. In addition to providing shade trees along publicrights of way and in selected public parks, the group used

their grants to establish a Memorial Grove for firefighters atthe site of the Santa Barbara County Fire AdministrationHeadquarters. Fifty-four coast live oak trees now line theentry way to the Fire Administration Building and feature amemorial plaque at the foot of each tree. Goleta ValleyBeautiful also planted shade trees for a large Little Leagueplay area and for a 33-acre residential treatment center forchildren ages 8 - 17 with developmental disabilities or dualdiagnosis.


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Pruning Strategies For Mature TreesBy Bruce W. Hagen

The most compelling reason to prune maturelandscape trees is to reduce their risk of failure. Thismay involve the removal of dead, decayed andweakly-attached branches, shortening (reducing)competing leaders particularly those originating

low on a tree, and thinning to reduce wind resistanceor end weight. Long, heavy or poorly taperedbranches can also be problematic and should beconsidered when assessing a tree for pruning.Priority should be given to improving branchspacing, influencing branch size relative to the trunkor parent branch, and changing branch orientationand growth rate. Making proper pruning cuts,keeping them as small as possible and removing asfew living branches as necessary to meet theobjective should be the arborists primary goal.

Pruning of mature trees should always beapproached with restraint and a thoroughunderstanding of tree structure and function. Afterall, pruning is a wounding process that reduces leafsurface area and photosynthetic capacity.Furthermore, the resulting wounds provide avenuesthrough which wood decay fungi can invade. Toresist invading pathogens and prevent decay, injuredtees must then expend stored energy to form calloustissue that will ultimately close the wounds. Theremoval of living branches, buds and embryonicstems with leaves can stimulate (invigorate) growth

in the remainingbranches and buds.

Finally, pruning cangreatly alter treearchitecturepositively ornegatively.

Structuralpruning is theremoval orshortening of livebranches or stemsto influenceorientation,

spacing, growthrate (subordinationor invigoration),size relationship,

strength of attachment and ultimate size ofbranches. It is most appropriate for young trees andthose that are not yet mature. The termsubordination has been proposed for the shorteningof competing or codominant branches. Gilman(2002) defines subordination pruning as the

removal, typically the upright or end portion of aparent branch or stems, to slow growth rate, so otherportions of the tree grow faster. Thus,subordination, which shortens a branch orcompeting leader to a lower, lateral branch can beused to reduce branch weight, change branchorientation or alter growth rate to improve the size ofa pruned branch relative to the trunk/parent branch.

Structural pruning of mature and over-maturetrees can be problematic because structure is wellestablished, growth is relatively minimal, and oftenthere are a number of serious defects. In manycases, its too late to correct these problems easily.Emphasis then should be placed on keeping suchtrees relatively safe and healthy by removing large

dead branches and large branch stubs, shorteninglong heavy branches and by avoiding unnecessaryremoval of living branches, particularly in the interiorof the crown. Large competing branches should bereduced moderately to lessen end-weight and risk offailure. Those with included bark should also bereduced, but supplemental support systems may beneeded to ensure adequate safety. This helps avoidmaking large wounds. If moderate thinning is theobjective remove only small branches (less than fourinches in diameter) in the outer canopy. Avoidremoving main scaffolds and secondary limbs.

Branches that are more than about a third thediameter of the trunk, and those that are more thanabout 15 years old (depending on species and otherfactors) may not be able to restrict spread of decayfollowing removal (Gilman 2002).

The pruning of large older trees that have neverbeen structurally pruned and those that have beenlion-tailed is a challenge. Over-mature and decliningtrees are particularly prone to failure due toincreasing size and slow growth. Such trees are

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unable to produce enough annual increment growthto offset increasing branch weight and/or developingdecay. Weight reduction in older trees should beconsidered, but leaf surface area is critical.Emphasis must be placed on reducing excessiveend weight and/or crown reduction to prevent branchfailure. Crown reductionthe selective pruning ofbranches in the outer crown to decrease height andspread, can significantly lessen the risk of branch

failure or uprooting. Adequately reducing the crownof large trees often requires making relatively largereduction cutsgreater than 4-inches in diameter.Such cuts are more likely to develop a column ofdecay because there is no natural protection zone toresist pathogens. Branch protection zones occuronly within the branch collar of lateral branches thatare relatively smaller than the trunk or parent branch.Smaller reductions cuts, though, are more likely toclose without developing appreciable decay. Thegoal should be to remove as little foliage as possible,while meeting the objective of weight and height

should not be reduced unless there are no otheralternatives. When moderate crown reduction isunlikely to mitigate a particular hazard and there isa desire to avoid removal, topping may be the onlyoption make the tree safe, although it is generallyconsidered to be unacceptable for most trees. Treespruned in this manner will require careful monitoringand additional maintenance.

The appropriate strategy for pruning mature

trees will depend on the trees species, age, size,condition health and objective. Considerations mustbe given to the trees history of failure, type andseverity of structural defect including decay andenvironmental factors such as wind, topography,soil factors, etc., that could contribute to failure.

Excessive thinningAlthough young trees are fairly tolerant of

pruning in excess of 25 percent of the foliage,mature, over mature and stressed trees aresensitive to the loss of even 10 percent of their

foliage. Excessive thinning may cause such trees todecline or predispose them to secondary pests dueto the stress.

Current pruning practices, rather than focusingon mitigating potential structural problems,emphasize thinning and removal of dead branches.The practice of crown thinning the selectiveremoval of small, live branches throughout thecrown to reduce leaf surface area, serves little or nopurpose in most cases. Its a little like bloodletting,an archaic medical practice abandoned at the endof the 19th century. The intent was to cleanse the

body of impurities or to allow evil spirits to escape.The premise seemed logical at the time but thescience was faulty. We now know that bloodlettingcan be harmful, particularly when it is done toexcess. The same can be said of thinning. Theremoval of the larger dead branches is quite

justifiable because it reduces risk potential.Moreover, the pruning of large, dead branch stubsis thought to prevent or reduce the development ofmany wood decay organisms by facilitating morerapid closure of the branch collar.

The ANSI A300 (Part 1) Pruning Standardsdefine thinning as the selective pruning to improvebranch spacing, direct growth, eliminate weak anddefective branches, reduce end-weight and windsail or to reduce branch weight. The majority ofthese branches should be removed from the outerthird of the crown. Thinning should leave trees witha generally symmetrical crown and with an evendistribution of branches on individual limbs andthroughout the crown. Furthermore, the standardsstate not more than 25 percent of a trees foliageshould be removed within an annual growing

reduction. Work on declining trees is best done overseveral years to reduce stress. Unless there are noother options, large pruning wounds should beavoided. Trunk decay is often the result of removinglarge scaffold branches or codominant branches.Such wounds usually close slowly and branchprotection zones, should there be any, are typicallyweak. Large pruning wounds that cut acrossheartwood can result in significant decay.

In cases where trees have grown too large or have

become hazardous due to root decay, restricted rootzone, weak branches, etc. crown reduction may bethe next to last resort. Practitioner must recognize thattree canopies can only be reduced to a limited extentwithout causing stimulating profuse sprouting,sunburn damage or initiating serious branch decay.When crown reduction is warranted, shorten (reduce)branches in outer canopy back to laterals that are 1/3to 1/2 the diameter of the branch being removed.Branches larger than four inches in diameter generally


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season. It adds that the percentage of crownthinning must be adjusted to account for inherenttolerance, age and condition, and environmentalfactors.

Thinning to open a trees canopy is notnecessarily a problem unless too much of thefoliage is removed. Health, vitality, age and speciescharacteristics must be considered whendetermining a trees tolerance to foliage loss. The

objective of pruning also determines how muchpruning is needed. At any rate, removing more than25 percent of the crown is seldom warranted, and isusually counterproductive. Excessive thinning oftrees with dense crowns to reduce wind-sail andpotential fortoppling mayactually increasepotential for limbbreakage byallowing thinnedbranches to sway

more freely.Removing morethan 20 percent ofthe canopy oftenstimulatesvigorous growth,increasing foliagedensity to a levelgreater than thatprior to pruning.The typicalresponse to excess thinning is increased shoot

elongation and epicormic sprouting alongpreviously shaded branches. In this manner,excessive thinning creates additional work becausethese dense sprouts must then be managed. Manytree care companies simply remove the sproutsduring the next pruning cycle. In general, sproutsshould be selectively thinned rather than removed,because they produce needed energy. The morevigorous shoots can be shortened and cultured aspotential branches.

One of the most visible effects of excessivepruning is the release of latent (epicormic) budssprouting due to the exposure of previously shadedbark to sunlight. Sprout growth is typically quitevigorous because there is a surplus of water,minerals and stored energy, and because hormonalregulation has been disrupted. Growth in theunpruned branches is also increased becausefewer growing points remain. Carbohydratereserves are tapped to produce sprouts. Reserveenergy is also diverted to wound sites to resistdecay (CODIT). The overall effect is stress andweakened natural defenses. Other impacts include

an altered architecture with increased hazardpotential. In addition, excessive pruning done at thewrong time can lead to sunburn damage to the barkof newly exposed branches. Furthermore, theexposure of previously shaded bark can lead tosunburned tissue. The bottom line is that excessivepruning affects health, appearance, structure, andincreases maintenance costs.

It should be noted that moderate thinning may

be useful to reduce wind-sail in trees in windy areasand those growing in shallow, wet or coarse soils.Crown thinning may also help to reduce damagedue to snow-loading. Trees weakened by decayand those with girdling roots or other serious rootdefects may also be candidates for moderatethinning and crown reduction. Selective thinning toreduce end-weight, or shorten (reduce) branchescan reduce limb weight in order to compensate forstructural defects. Trees plagued by certain leafdiseases may also benefit from moderate thinning.

A misconception that still persists is that thinning

the crown is beneficial because it increases light

and wind penetration into the canopy. Despiterelatively low light levels, interior foliage in manytrees is productive. Sunflecks are short durationpoints of light that penetrate a trees crown as thesun moves. These bursts of full sunlight play animportant role in temporarily increasing

photosynthesis. Additional light enters the crown asleaves and branches move in the wind.The level oflight intensity, though, varies greatly by species andis dependent on crown shape and foliage density.Little interior foliage forms in trees with very densecanopies. In most trees, though, foliage extendswell into the inner crown where diffuse light or fullsun enters for short periods. Interior foliage (shade-leaves) can function at a relatively low lightintensity. Branches that are no longer productive


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are simply shed. This is a natural process andgenerally not a concern. Because density of interiorfoliage varies by species, moderate thinning may beuseful to stimulate and retain inner branches to aidin developing branch taper in large, wide spreadingtrees. The needfor thinning is

justified byspecies

characteristics,failure patterns,age, size,environmentalfactors, objective,etc.

Lions-tailing,another commonpruning practice,is problematic. Itinvolves theremoval of many

of the inner andlower laterals,which shiftsgrowth and the load-bearing surface toward the topof the tree, placing greater stress on the scaffoldbranches and trunk. Lower laterals are vital becausethey help to distribute wind loading more evenly anddampen the effects of strong wind. Furthermore,they increase branch taper, reducing the potentialfor branch breakage. Lion-tailed branches, whichtypically grow vigorously, add little caliper below thefoliage. One further complication is that the

branches are often weakened by decay due to thenumber, size and quality of pruning cuts made tostrip out the laterals. So, lions tailing weakensbranch structure, increases limb breakage potential,stimulates water sprouts and can lead to sunburninjury. Of greater concern, though, is that thispractice leaves few options in the future to shortenoverly long branches or reduce end-weight. In manycases, removing critical, outer canopy foliage,cabling heavy branches or removing large branchesare the only options left to maintain safety.

Arborists must start using a more prescriptiveapproach to pruning rather than applying the sametreatment to all trees. Pruning must be based onmore than minimal pruning standard, aesthetics oroutmoded ideas. What is needed is a morecomprehensive guide reflecting the current science-based knowledge about tree structure, biology andresponse to pruning. One publication: An IllustratedGuide to Pruning, Second Edition, authored by Dr.Ed Gilmans of Florida State University meets thatneed. This book is the most detailed,

comprehensive and reasoned publication nowavailable. Arborists would do well to study it.

Reference: Gilman, Edward F. 2002. An IllustratedGuide to Pruning. 2nd. ed. Delmar, Albany New York

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Online Information..........

A new website tool for homeowners living inforested native tree environments, ForesTreecontains information on over 60 insects and

diseases as well as useful information on pre-ventive tree care practives and where to getadditional technical help if needed. Visitwww.ufei.org/forestree for more information.

The Environmental Protection Agency haslaunched its new online urban heat islandMitigation Impact Screening Tool (MIST) atwww.epa.gov/heatisland. MIST provides urbanplanners and environmental policy makers with aweb-based means of assessing the range oflikely impacts of heat island mitigation strategiesaveraged at the city scale.

Trees in our communitites A well-treed citycan improve air quality by trapping particulatematter and filtering harmful pollutants. TheEnvironmental Protection Agency has recentlymade provisions for urban trees to be includedin State Implementation Plans to improve airqualtiy. The USDA Forest Service has recentlydeveloped a new website for Building the Casefor Urban Tree Canopy Inclusion in State Imple-mentation Plans. Fore more information visitwww.treescleanair.org.

Watershed 263 - Soundprint, with support fromAmerican Forests and the US Forest Service,recently produced a series of documentaries onthe value of urban forests. The website is lo-cated at www.trees.soundprint.org.



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Abigail Forrest, a field Forestry Assistant II forthe San Bernardino Unit of the CaliforniaDepartment of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF)has been appointed to one of two RegionalUrban Forestry Specialists positions serving thegreater southern California regional area. Shereplaces John Melvin, who transferred earlier thisyear to fill a like position serving NorthernCalifornia.

Forrest was bornin Southern Californiaand spent much of

her childhood in LakeArrowhead, amountain resortwithin the SouthernCalifornia area. Shereceived a Bachelorof Science degree innatural resourcemanagement fromCal-Poly San LuisObispo in 2002. Shebegan her career withCDF in 1998 as aseasonal firefighter,serving in a seasonal capacity for both SanBernardino and San Luis Obispo counties for atotal of five seasons. Following in the footstepsof her father, Doug Forrest, currently an AssistantChief with CDF in Sacramento, Abigail haschosen a career path that keeps the Forrest

growing in public service.

Lynnette Short, a field Forestry Assistant II forthe San Diego Unit of the California Department ofForestry and Fire Protection (CDF) has beenappointed to one of two Regional Urban ForestrySpecialists positions serving the greater southern

California regional area. She replaces Eric Oldar,who retired earlier in 2005.

Short was born in the San Diego area andspent much of her childhood in the Escondidoarea. She received a Bachelor of Science degreein natural resource management from Cal-PolySan Luis Obispo in 2003. She began her careerwith CDF as a seasonal firefighter in San DiegoCounty and returned to work for CDF full time uponher graduation. Lynnette plans to continue hercareer with CDF by focusing her attention on theurban forestry needs of the greater San Diegoarea.

CDF Welcomes Two New Urban Foresters


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Invasive Vine Threatens Trees and ShrubsJapanese Dodder Vine Found In Several California Counties

Japanese dodder (Cuscuta japonica choisy),also known as devils guts, was first found in theUnited States in 1941. Since that time it has beeneradicated in several southern states and is cur-rently reported in Texas, South Carolina, Florida and

California. This species of Dodder is not known tobe toxic. It is an aggressive vine that attaches itselfto its host and literally sucks the life from it bysinking its roots into the vascular system of the plantor tree. Once the vine is attached to a host it nolonger needs its roots in the soil for nutrients, andrelys solely on the host plant for sustenance. Thevine also blocks sunlight by thickly shrouding itshost with bright yellowish orange stems that twinearound the host plants own stems. It can grow up tosix inches per day.

The vine germinates in the spring near the soilsurface, flowers in late summer and fruits in earlyfall. Flowers are small, (1/8 inch) and are bell-shaped and cream-colored. The fruit is a smallcapsule with up to four coffee grain-sized seedswhich are rough and irregularly ovate. A single plantcan produce over 2,000 seeds, which remain viablefor up to 20 years. It can also reproduce via frag-mentation and attachment to a new host.

While there are 50 other dodder species nativeto the United States, officials suspect the Japanesedodder was imported for use as an herbal medicine.

Many cultures have used dodders for medicinalpurposes, including the American Indians who usedthem to treat tuberculosis. Early American settlersused dodders in a bath for children with fever and itis used in Asian medicine for a variety of ailments.

In California, the Japanese dodder has beenreported in Yolo, Contra Costa, Sacramento,Shasta, Los Angeles and Yuba counties. It poses athreat to trees and shrubs, and crops such asalfalfa, asparagus and tomatoes.

If you find an infestation of Japanese Dodder donot attempt to remove or control it. Document the

location, collect a sample of the plant and send toFred Hrusa, California Department of Food andAgriculture, Plant Pest Diagonstics Center, 3294Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA 95832. Call916-262-1100 with sampling procedure questions. Ifyour infestation is confirmed as Japanese dodder,contact Steve Schoenig, Weed Eradication ProgramManager, [email protected], 916-654-0768.

** Photos courtesy of the Napa Farm Bureau at [email protected]


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California Department of Forestry & Fire

Protection

Urban Forestry Program Contacts

Glenn FlamikUrban Forestry Program Administrator

Sacramento Headquarters, Sacramento, CA (916)[email protected]

Bruce HagenUrban Forester

Northern Region Headquarters, Santa Rosa, CA(707) 576-2936

[email protected]

Darla MillsForestry Assistant II

South Region Headquarters, Fresno, CA(559) 243-4109

[email protected]

John Melvin

Forester IL.A. Moran Reforestation Center, Davis, CA

(916) [email protected]

Lynnette ShortForestry Assistant II

San Diego Unit, El Cajon, CA(909)-553-8062

[email protected]

Abigail ForrestForestry Assistant II

Southern Operations Center, Riverside CA(909)-553-8057

[email protected]

Lisa GipsonAssociate Governmental Program Analyst

Sacramento Headquarters, Sacramento, CA(916) 651-6423

[email protected]

CDFs Urban Forestry Program Newsletter is published by theCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protection

Governor, The State of CaliforniaArnold Schwarzenegger

Secretary of Resources, The Resources AgencyMike Chrisman

Director, California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection

Ruben Grijalva

California Regional Urban Forestry Council Contacts:

If you would like to receive thispublication by email, please send

an email request to:

[email protected]

San Diego Regional Urban Forestry Council - Adrienne McCrumb,858-244-1177, [email protected] Urban Forests Council - Nancy Hughes,415-408-3222,[email protected] Joaquin Valley Urban Forests Council- VacantInland Empire Urban Forests Council - Dave Roger, 951-687-7811, [email protected]

Sacramento Urban Forests Council - Ruth WIlliams, 916-924-8733, [email protected]

Los Angeles/Orange Co. Regional Forests Council - Bill Candlish, 213-473-4630, [email protected]

Bay Area Urban Forests Council- Doug Wildman, 415-561-6890 ext. 109, [email protected] Coast Regional Urban Forests Council - Ken Knight, 805-252-1952, [email protected]

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www.fire.ca.gov/ResourceManagement/UrbanForestry

[email protected]

Urban Forestry Websites:

In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture

policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of

race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. (Not all prohibited

bases apply to all programs.)

To file a commplaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of

civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964

(voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and

employer.

california shade newsletter, fall 2006 ~ california urban forestry program

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