Atascadero Lake Tree Planting, Atascadero

Lionel and I were excited to hear from Cory Meyer and the North County Earth Day organizers early in the 2010 that a tree planting was scheduled for the April 18th celebration at Atascadero Lake Park.  The planting would be a double celebration, promoting both Earth Day and Arbor Day.  We’d discussed the site as a possibility over the years but somehow never had the right contacts to make it happen.  With a newly formed partnership between One Cool Earth, the Atascadero Parks and Recreation Department, the California Conservation Corp and the Atascadero High School Green Club we had the right mix of permissions, material support, muscle and followup to realize this great improvement to the park and community.  One Cool Earth provided madrone trees, tools, and time while Parks and Recreation provided valley oaks, caging, and tools and did the background work, verifying that neighbors wouldn’t lose their much loved view of the lake.  The CCC and Green Club put their backs into the planting and the Green Club adopted the watering of the trees for the first two years.  At the end of the three hours we had 20 brand new trees for the park.

Trees around the border of the lake provide many of the usual benefits that trees bring, such as carbon sequestration, habitat improvement, erosion mitigation and beautification.  However, next to Atascadero lake, the trees would shade the water, lowering water temperatures and potentially reducing the loss of oxygen from the lake, which can cause it to smell bad.  Tree roots would also reduce eutrophication by absorbing excess nutrients from the lake waters.

Stay tuned, future plantings are planned!

Work History:

April 18th, 2010 – Initial planting of 20 trees

Project Status: ongoing…

Updates:

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Lopez Lake Tree Planting

Lopez Lake

Project Title: Lopez Lake Tree Planting

Project Description: In collaboration with the Grizzly Academy, an organization that furthers the advancement of at risk high school-aged youth, OCE set about planting a variety of oaks near the Lopez Lake Ranger station in the Fall of 2007, replacing a number of dying pine trees in the area and further beautifying the entrance to the park.  Lopez Lake has many fine specimens of Valley and Live Oak, and OCE collects some of its acorn stock from this area every year–some of the acorns we find here are almost two inches long!  The area is a wonderful place to observe wildlife in action, and while collecting we have seen woodpeckers collecting acorns and storing them in the pockets they make on the trunks of surrounding trees.  Squirrels, deer, and numerous insects also make use of this bountiful food soruce.  This planting will help to ensure that these acorns remain plentiful for future collecting–by both animals and humans.

OCE Work History:

Fall 2007 – Original planting with Grizzly Academy.

Project Status: established

Updates:

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Bellevue Santa Fe Charter School Tree Planting

Bellevue Santa Fe Charter School

Project Title: Bellevue Santa Fe Charter School Tree Planting

Project Description: Beginning in 2007, OneCoolEarth worked with students, teachers, and staff at Bellevue Santa Fe Charter School to organize a campus improvement project intended to replace the school’s dying pine trees.  The project began with the students raising young oak trees in a small on-site nursery near their organic garden.  By the Fall of 2008, the school’s young trees were ready to plant, along with a variety of other’s provided by OCE.  Engaging an army of student and parent volunteers, black walnut, canyon oak, tan oak, live oak, cork oak and redwoods were planted in the shade of the dying trees.

OCE Work History:

Fall 2007 – nursery started

Fall 2008 – trees planted

Project Status: monitoring

Updates:

7/29/2009 – Stopped by to check on trees.  Counted 55 trees altogether doing very well.  Possibility of additional planting.

Cayucos, Whale Rock Reservoir Tree Planting

Whale Rock Reservoir

Project Title: Whale Rock Reservoir Tree Planting

Description: Named after a now submerged rock formation, Whale Rock Reservoir provides a portion of San Luis Obispo’s water supply, as well as that of the California Men’s Colony, Cuesta College, California Polytechnic State University, and Camp San Luis Obispo National Guard Camp.  Unfortunately, intensive grazing and deforestation have left the slopes of the reservoir highly unstable.  Add to this a raised water level from the flooding of the reservoir, and the results can be disasterous–major slumping along the steep slopes above the reservoir threaten the body of water’s storage capacity, have inhibited recreation, and necessitate expensive mitigation to protect Old Creek Road along its southern edge.

OneCoolEarth has long  advocated for utilizing extensive replanting to revitalize the slopes and put an end to the slumping, and has organized over twenty planting and direct seeding events in the past ten years.  With thousands of acorns, Catalina cherries, and black walnut seeds planted by hand and nearly one hundred live trees in the ground and now reaching maturing, the southern slope of the reservoir is beginning to show signs of recovery.   But in such a vast area, much remains to be done.

Update: January, 2010 – One Cool Earth has received a grant from PG&E to plant 500 trees at the fishermen’s entrance to the reservoir.  Working with the City of San Luis Obispo which oversees this natural resource, a plan for replanting has been developed.

Update: February, 2010 – Already 250 trees have been planted with the help of nearly 100 volunteers from Cal Poly, the Civil Conservation Corp, and Cuesta College.  The reservoir is a great educational field trip for students and community members to discover their water supply and its beautiful watershed, enhancing it in the process.  We will cease planting until the fall, when we will finish our goal.

Update: May, 2010 – Watered 120 trees with the CCC’s, will return in two weeks to water remaining 130 trees.  So far they look great!  Some, especially the canyon oaks, are displaying up to 6 inches of new growth, doubling their height.  An interesting phenomenon is occuring with the deer: trees planted below the road in dense coyote brush, near the reservoir are being grazed by deer, while those above the road are left alone.  Protective grow tubes are proving a necessity.

Stay tuned on how you can help these efforts.

OCE Work History:

Fall of 2000 – initial planting

Fall of 2004 to present – annual direct seeding

January 2010 – received grant from PG&E to plant 500 trees over 5 months and sustain them through their first years.

February 2010 – Planted 250 trees since beginning of year.

May 9, 2010 – Watered.

Project Status: ongoing

Avila, Bob Jones Bike Trail Tree Planting

Bob Jones Bike Trail

Project Title: Bob Jones Bike Trail Tree Planting

Description: Lionel and Chrissy live near the Bob Jones Bike Trail and often hike and bike it. Last year it occurred to Lionel that parking lot was looking awfully desolate, and he took it upon himself to spruce it up. With the help of a few friends he planted seven redwoods and twenty-eight oaks, some from acorn and some from seedlings. Watering them by hand whenever he visited the trail, he watched them grow amazingly fast–already the two foot redwood sappling has grown taller than him! Many of the acorns grew too, verifying theories about the value of direct seeding as an effective and efficient planting method (after all, its nature’s preferred method for acorns). Unfortunately one of the trees was accidentally weed-wacked, but the caretaker is now aware of the trees’ presence and avoids them.

OCE Work History:

Fall of 2008 – original planting

Spring of 2009-present – watering

Project Status: monitoring

Updates:

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