Two northern San Luis Obispo county organizations the Atascadero Land Preservation Society (ALPS) and the Central Coast Heritage Tree Foundation are working to regenerate the next generation of native trees.
With so many native trees across San Luis Obispo County, the trees outnumber the residents.
However, Kelly Reed, Founder of the Central Coast Tree Foundation, explained that with recent development the future generations of native trees are at risk.
“I started the Central Coast Heritage Tree Foundation in response to what I saw in the county. The oak trees don’t have regular maintenance here,” said Reed.
Her organization is responsible for replanting and maintaining native trees, including live oaks, blue oaks, and valley oaks.
“We sprout the acorns from our local different species of oaks. Live oaks, blue oaks, and valley oaks primarily and then we try to get them planted back into an area that’s close to where they started so that we can regenerate the urban and more rural oak woodland with the native trees," said Reed.
She said while volunteers are willing to plant trees, it’s more challenging to find people willing to help maintain them.
“We need to keep those trees under our watchful eye and usually do some supplemental summer watering for the first 3 to 5 years,” said Reed.
In Atascadero, ALPS volunteers like Mike Orvis and Cory Meyer maintain trees for years after planting.
“We mulch them typically one time a year and we water them through from late April all the way through October or early November depending on rainfall,” said Meyer.
They come out every three weeks for ten hours of watering. Otherwise, the community might not see the future generation of native trees.
“Older trees would die off and we wouldn’t have regeneration or succession of trees coming up in its place,” said Meyer.
Why preserve native trees for future generations? They offer various benefits to individuals and the community.
“They produce oxygen…they sequester carbon dioxide. It also gives us the quality of life and the culture that we represent here on the Central Coast,” said Reed.
Click on these links below for more information about either ALPS or the Central Coast Heritage Tree Foundation.
