The City of San Mateo has established a Master Pan for specific trees in San Mateo Park.

 

 

From the literature, and recent surveys and research, chief among McLaren's species used at San Mateo Park were:

Each street in San Mateo Park has a designated tree (sometimes changing for different blocks).  These trees have been designated such by the City of San Mateo Park and Recreation Department Master Plan.  Do you know what your designated street tree is?  more...

  

 

The Park’s trees help define our neighborhood (check out an aerial photograph of the Peninsula if you doubt this!) and, for many residents, are among its most precious resources. Famed landscape architect John McLaren (who designed Golden Gate Park) laid out our wide winding streets. He conceived of our islands as focal points for a carefully planned landscape of small “parks” and complementary street trees. However, McLaren planted the area at the beginning of the 20th century. Those original trees that survive are nearing the end of their expected lives, and the Park is facing several decades of replacement planting.

 

Fortunately, re-forestation of the Park is well underway. About 15 years ago, the Park Association Board surveyed Park residents about our impending tree crisis. There was overwhelming support for maintaining the flavor of McLaren’s original design, including using tall trees and a relatively small number of different species. In particular, residents did not want a hodgepodge of street trees, varying house by house along our blocks. Instead, they wanted to maintain McLaren’s consistency and harmony between street and island trees in the Park’s many micro-neighborhoods. Based on this feedback, we commissioned urban foresters very familiar with McLaren’s work in Golden Gate Park to recreate his vision for our neighborhood. Working with the City of San Mateo, we updated McLaren’s original plan, maintaining his species list but replacing trees that are not viable in today’s urban landscape with species of similar form and size. (For example, Chinese Hackberry replaces the disease-prone Elms that were Clark Drive’s original street trees.) We now have a master planting plan that will guide the City’s street and island tree planting for the next 50 years.

 

Phase I of this plan, replanting our islands, is essentially complete. These days, work on the islands consists mainly of replacing individual trees as they die and cleaning up the “understory” or groundscapes. Now, in Phase II, our principal focus is on replenishing our street trees and correcting some of the ad hoc planting that has occurred. The island and street trees are all public property or public easements: both planting and removal require City approval. But we are fortunate that the City is a full partner in our plan to perpetuate McLaren’s unique landscape.

 

From Park residents we need continued cooperation and support. Please don’t plant trees in our islands and sidewalk strips that are not part of the plan for restoring McLaren’s unique urban forest. Do volunteer to give our new trees a good start by watering them.

 

You can see the difference planned, coordinated planting makes by comparing streets and blocks around the neighborhood. Hurlingham, for example, has quite a hodgepodge of street tree species that vary from property to property, as well as in front of individual homes. Although we have started replanting this street according to the master plan, it will take cooperation from its residents and many years of thoughtful replacement planting to restore an integrated landscape design to this area. By contrast, the lower West Bellevue streetscape is united by a stand of locusts. (Note the many new locusts that have been planted to refurbish this area.)

 

Unfortunately, some areas of the Park have had street or island trees planted without a permit and not in accordance with the master plan. When you have street trees in front of your house that need replacement, please consider that what is planted will affect the appearance of your block and this neighborhood for the next 50 - 100 years! And remember, a permit from the City of San Mateo is required to plant trees in the sidewalk easement strip in front of your house. Better still, the City will purchase good-sized (24" box) trees of the designated species and plant them -- at no cost to you. And they will work with you about the number and placement of those trees. We can help you take advantage of this program and get you in line for additional or replacement street trees -- simply contact any one of the Directors listed as working on street trees and islands for information and assistance. At the end of the day, working with the master plan for the Park and planting within its guidelines will enhance real estate values from the "street appeal" of your block. Beyond that, it is the neighborly thing to do! Only through Park-wide adherence to the master plan can we restore the original, cohesive and elegant look of our streets.

 

 

With the help of Park resident Mike Strambi, we have won three successive grants from the RELEAF organization, enabling us to purchase over 300 trees for our streets and islands in recent years. Park Association Board member Sue Lloyd has put in innumerable hours on these grant projects, identifying where trees were needed, contacting homeowners and pulling it all off in wonderful community tree planting days. Thanks to the many volunteers from the Park and the City (especially our terrific allies, Dennis Pawl, Mark Camfield, Tony Zumba and their colleagues in the Landscape Maintenance Dept.) for your efforts!

 

 

From time to time, people illegally dump soil and chippings on our islands. We think this is done by gardeners or others working on construction/landscaping projects who want to avoid the fees for proper disposal. We suspect it is done during the night. Please keep a look out for these people and try to get their license plate number, or you can call the police. These dumpings have caused an enormous amount of extra work for the City Parks Dept., which we could better use on much needed maintenance and improvement projects for our islands. Also, too much mulch that often is of poor quality can be bad for the trees’ roots.

 

 

A few Island Representatives are still needed. The work is not arduous and it helps keep the neighborhood looking good if there is someone looking out for an island.  

  

Some of the magnificent Southern Magnolia trees in the Park could do with some TLC. S. Magnolias do not like compacted soil, and they do better with some watering during the summer. Over-watering, such as occurs when lawn sprinklers are the water source, can kill them though. Understory planting helps with the soil compaction problem by keeping foot traffic out, but keep grass away from the trunks. Finally, these trees have roots very close to the surface. Landscaping projects that scrape or turn the soil around them too much (such as installing a new lawn) are likely to send your tree into slow but obvious decline and death. If you have a prized or heritage Southern Magnolia, consider consulting a qualified arborist before embarking on projects in its vicinity.

 

As you walk around the Park enjoying the magnificent trees that were planted here at the beginning of the last century, notice the Quercus suber, a member of the Oak family. These Cork Oak trees are native to Mediterranean countries, but have been planted here from Maryland to California. They thrive in semi-dry conditions. More commonly known as the Cork Oak, the tree’s bark needs to be touched if you want to see what this tree is all about.

 

The thick, soft, outer bark of this tree is actually cork. To produce cork, the bark is stripped every 10 to 20 years on the lower section of the tree. The inner, living bark is not harmed, and one tree can yield over 1,000 lbs. of cork in a single crop. The first and second stripping of a tree give mediocre quality cork; subsequent strippings produce a higher quality product. (Don’t even think of taking a sample – even a small one - from our trees! If not done properly, living tissue easily can be damaged, killing limbs or even the whole tree.)

 

Thomas Jefferson sent the first cork acorns to the United States from France in 1787, but it was not until 1858 that interest in these majestic trees took root. In the following years, many acorns were imported from Spain and distributed throughout the South and in California. About 600 trees were planted at Chico by the University of California in 1904.

 

Cork oaks are slow growing and extremely long-lived: some trees in Europe are over 500 years old. They may range from 60 to 100 feet in height, and have massive branches forming a round crown. They are evergreen with rich green, shiny leaves that have grayish undersides.

 

Mature cork oak islands can be found on the first block of West Bellevue and on Warren between Hurlingham and Crescent. Our newest cork oak island is on West Poplar between Hurlingham and Crescent. This one was planted (for the generations!) when sustained freezing weather killed all the frost-susceptible silk oaks that were on this island.