Landmark Palm Trees Appear to Be Ailing: Two of 88 Along Carmichael Street May Require Removal.
By Bill Lindelof, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Mar. 30–Two landmark palm trees said to date back to the pioneer settlers of Carmichael appear to be ailing and may have to be removed.
Craig Heuer, Sacramento County maintenance manager for trees and landscape for the Department of Transportation, said palm trees have been in place on Palm Drive for about a century.
They line both sides of the street for about a half mile beginning near Fair Oaks Boulevard and leading toward Ancil Hoffman Park.
A few months ago, all 88 Canary Island date palms lining Palm Drive were trimmed. After trimming, each of the palms was inspected.
Two at California Avenue and Palm Drive were found to be “structurally compromised.”
“It looked like either overpruning or possibly a disease of some kind had caused the trunk to significantly narrow up by the head of the tree,” Heuer said.
The palms were planted by Mary Deterding. She and her husband, Charles, purchased 425 acres along the American River in 1907. Eventually, much of the ranch became Ancil Hoffman Park.
“There have been other palms taken out” through the years, said their grandson Russ Deterding, 76.
He remembers the trees lining the road at the entrance to the family ranch when he was a child.
The palms are a living monument to his grandmother.
“I love it when I see those palms,” he said. “We have joined the California Family Fitness club, right there at Palm and Fair Oaks Boulevard. Every time I go by there, I look at those palm trees. I tell my wife’s personal trainer: ‘That’s my grandma.’ “
Two county arborists examined the trees and determined there was no immediate danger of their tops falling and hitting a pedestrian or vehicle, Heuer said.
“But the tree grows from the top up, and the head will get heavier and heavier,” Heuer said. “With a weak spot in the trunk, a good wind has a possibility of breaking that thing off and it falling down into the traffic lanes.”
The heavy heads of the palms are about 20 feet across.
The palms with the trunk narrowing problem were posted for removal, prompting residents to inquire about them. Because of citizen concern, the county began researching the trees.
Heuer wants to make sure that the county correctly diagnosed the palms’ problem and determine whether anything can be done to save them. He has contacted the Sacramento Tree Foundation and written to the Southern California Palm Association.
“Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people with this kind of expertise in our immediate area,” Heuer said.
“We want to use good science rather than emotions. We are looking at it from a risk standpoint. How would it look if that thing falls off and kills somebody?”
In addition, the county plans to hire an independent arborist.
The trees have an average lifespan of 50 to 150 years, Heuer said. If the two palms must be removed, that would not happen until autumn.
Dick Barbar, who lives nearby, noticed the removal notice that the county posted next to the palms. He also wants the trees’ plight explored by experts.
If a palm has to be removed, “there is already talk about planting a new one in there, fundraising if we have to and donating if the county does not have any money,” Barbar said.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
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