California legislature is endangering over 193 historic trees in controversial plan, tree expert says

By KUSI Newsroom
KUSI San Diego
April 26, 2022

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The City of San Diego chopped down age-old palm trees in Ocean Beach Monday morning despite a lawsuit from residents in the area.

Sacramento’s Historic State Capitol Park is home to almost 1,000 unique trees but the California legislature is looking to uproot almost 200 of those historic trees in order to replace it with a parking lot.

However, tree experts warn that transplanting the trees could endanger them or event kill them.

Award-winning ecologist, tree expert, and historian Paula Peper joined KUSI’s Logan Byrnes on “Good Evening San Diego” to discuss more about the possible danger to these trees.

“Relocation practices are not following national guidelines, and with that, we assume that at least 49 of the palm trees that line — I mean, they’ve been planted since 1898 to 1903 —  and at least 49 of those will probably not be successful in the transplanting process,” Peper explained.