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Drought: Trees in Peril, Duh!

As a public service, I will retype some of the front page article in today's San Mateo County Times because the Times/Merc website is such a disastrous affair that only us print subscribers will see it if I don't retype it.  The headline is a classic Law of Unintended Consequences screamer "Trees in Peril Across the State".  While the City Council ponders its navel about how to get Caltrans to leave 14 healthy eucalyptus trees on El Camino alone, the Time is highlighting the 12.5 million trees that have passed due to the drought.  Anyone who actually owns trees already knows this, but here is one pertinent detail

So many trees are dying in the fourth year of this historic drought that some cities have begun delivering truckloads of water in an effort to save them.  In Palo Alto, where groundwater is pumped out during basement excavations (hey, is there any excavating going on in B'game??), the discarded water is collected in the city's 2,700 gallon water truck (hey, do we got one o dem?) and then used to irrigate trees.

The piece goes on to note that 

Experts say the fragile and nonnative species that dot our urban landscapes — the ginkgos, magnolias, lindens, maples, liquid ambers, European beeches, and out-of-place coastal redwoods, all accustomed to routine irrigation–are suffering the most with extreme conservation.

I love that last bit, "extreme conservation".  So if we are in extreme conservation, why are we approving hundreds of new condos with 2-3X hundreds of new bedrooms and baths.  Even more new office buildings are in the works.  Why is that?  My advice—ignore the current two day per week watering restriction and Save Your Trees.  When the Council figures out that water really is a Zero Sum Game and plays the game to the benefit of the residents of Burlingame, then you can go back to complying.  In the meantime, here is the skeleton of my favorite fruitless mulberry tree in my yard, taken tonight as I was watering the poor thing to save its life.

Dying Mulberry

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11 responses to “Drought: Trees in Peril, Duh!”

  1. Joe

    As an addendum, for anyone who tells you “We have a strong El Nino coming, don’t worry”, read this from a prominent skiing website:
    We’ve had plenty of opportunities to write about The Blob over the last three seasons. The Blob actually refers to a large pool of warmer than expected water that has existed in the Gulf Of Alaska during our last three seasons. We know there seems to be some connection between The Blob and the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, which resulted in storms being steered well north of Tahoe, and even the Pacific Northwest. Those storms dove into the eastern US, bringing them a snow-filled winter.
    So far, most weather bloggers and media outlets have focused only on the El Niño side of the equation. But who will win the battle between The Blob and Godzilla (i.e. El Nino)? One suggestion is that the rotation of the high pressure system associated with The Blob could steer the southern jet directly to the north, sending even more moisture to the east.
    That scenario would not be a good one for the west coast, where we don’t just need the snow, we also need the water. Hopefully Howard Shekter at MammothWeather.com will be correct in stating that The Blob is cooling and we can get a good dose of much needed snow and rain into Tahoe for this season. We’re going to have to wait a bit longer and see how things play out in the battle of the two monsters in weather.
    ——————
    So do not take that unanimous El Nino-will-save-us to the bank quite yet. As usual with climate issues, there is more than one side to the story.

  2. J

    I have 2 coastal redwoods (semper virons(sp?)) that are doing quite nicely without using a drop of drinking water. I also have an old pipe sticking out of my backyard and I think was tapped by a water mill (no longer around, unfortunately). So there is water underground, I guess.
    Oh yeah, we don’t have a drought problem–we have a “too many people” problem.

  3. resident

    There are seven creeks flowing down through different parts of Burlingame plus some old sloughs that have been filled in but probably still have more water than elsewhere in town. Your redwoods are lucky. That old pipe sounds interesting. I wonder if anyone old recalls what it was for in your neighborhood.

  4. hollyroller@hotwire.com

    I have been doing some research on drought effect trees.
    The “Mature Trees” in Burlingame have been living with “Global Warming” events since the late 1970’s.
    As is the case, dozens of majestic trees have “fallen” in Washington Park in the last 30 years.
    The same will happen around town soon as well.
    As a community we have to decide whether to be proactive, or reactive.
    Forget the new Bayfront Parks proposal. Lets get a Grant Writer to pay for the preservation of the “Old Ones” before all we have is the Urban Forest of Millbrae, SSF, Daly City, San Bruno, San Mateo, etc.
    Now or never.

  5. Peter Garrison

    Had a well on a property in 200 block of Channing.

  6. Linda Lees Dwyer

    We have-thanks to my husband-a hose running out of the back of our washing machine and into our back yard. Our laundry water is being used to keep our fruit trees alive. Found a detergent at Costco that is safe for trees and have cut the detergent in half too.

  7. Joe

    Nice. I’ll have to have a look at Costco. Have you tasted the fruit yet? 🙂

  8. Bruce Dickinson

    Adds brightness to fruit and is safe and gentle on apple skin, ya know what I mean?

  9. Up the Camino

    That is a nice reminder using the link from two years ago. Great to see that your council has managed to do nothing in two years.

  10. Linda Lees Dwyer

    Our fruit is fine-oranges are as good as they have ever been-and our tree is over 50 years old. I just cannot let it suffer like some in my neighborhood. My detergent to water ratio is very low and the rinse water goes on the same location, so that I can further dilute it.

  11. Joe

    From today’s DJ
    To ratchet up water conservation efforts during the extensive drought, Burlingame officials revived a long dormant and formerly problematic well to pump for municipal projects.
    The well, located in Washington Park, produces non-potable water which city workers can use to clean sidewalks, water plants and trees or purposes other than drinking.
    According to Burlingame Public Works Director Syed Murtuza, a maximum capacity of 100 gallons can be drawn from the well per minute, into a 40,000 gallon storage tank set up nearby.
    Since being rejuvenated last month, the well currently serves as the city’s only dedicated source of non-potable water, said Murtuza.
    http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2016-02-17/old-well-gets-revamped-to-help-drought-burlingame-officials-fix-the-citys-only-dedicated-non-potable-water-source/1776425158604
    There is no such thing as a “problematic well” these days :-0

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