11 coast live oaks will be removed from city orchard

By Oakley Brooks

The city will be removing 11 coast live oak trees from the Heritage Orchard, although the orchard's head caretaker says he would recommend keeping several of the trees in their existing spots.

Six oaks, most of them at the back of the orchard along Wildcat Creek, will be destroyed because they are too costly or too weak to transplant.

Another five, smaller oaks along Saratoga Avenue will be transplanted to someplace within the Fruitvale Avenue median. Two fir trees will also be taken out of the orchard.

The city's heritage preservation commission, which oversees the city-owned orchard, recently recommended removing the trees in order to restore the professional look of the orchard and to protect its apricot, cherry and prune trees.

The oak's broad canopy and deep roots can inhibit the growth of the smaller fruit trees.

The city council voted to remove the oak and fir trees on April 3, following discussion at its March 20 meeting.

But Matt Novakovich, who has maintained the orchard with his family since 1978, said he would like to see three of the larger oaks stay on the land near Wildcat Creek because they provide fruit pickers with shade during the summer harvest. Typically, he says, pickers will park a truck under the tree and load up pallets in the truck with fruit. The shade also keeps the fruit cool.

"It will be desolate here without those trees," he said recently, standing in the orchard. "They're here and they're of some use."

Novakovich said the oaks that remain could be pruned to protect surrounding fruit trees. He adds that one of the doomed fir trees is a perch for red-tailed hawks, which control gophers in the orchard.

Another fir holds a beehive--the bees pollinate the cherry trees in the orchard, along with commerical bees brought in every year from Watsonville.

The Novakoviches did not share any of their opinions at either of the city council meetings on March 20 and April 3, when the issue came up for discussion. Both Matt's brother, George, and his mother, Leah, were in the audience for the April 3 meeting.

The lack of input from the family during the council's deliberations befuddled City Manager Dave Anderson. He said that the Novakoviches had been encouraged to offer up an opinion on the tree removal.

"We listen very carefully to the Novakoviches," Anderson said. "They're the experts."

Matt Novakovich said he had informally discussed removing some oak trees and pruning back others with members of the council and the heritage preservation commission several months before the council's decision. But he said he figured the council had made up its mind by the time the tree removal issue appeared on its agenda in recent weeks.

Councilman Stan Bogosian announced April 3 that he had received two citizen complaints on the issue.

The removals, which will cost $6,400, required an amendment to an orchard master plan, updated this summer as a blueprint for restoring the 18-acre fruit grove.

Under the plan, a new irrigation system, a barn serving as a maintenance storage shed, and an educational center are in the works for the orchard.

Originally, the plan called for the protection of native trees like oaks. But now they are scheduled to be removed in July.

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