Alameda Chainsaw Tree Massacre?

Barbers Point, for those of you who don’t know (I didn’t know until someone directed me to a map) is a street that runs through Alameda Point.  In the spirit of blogging about the hyper local in Alameda, there is a new blog in the “sphere” for Barbers Point, entitled simply enough, Barbers Point News.  

There was apparently a bit of drama around Barbers Point neighbors and Ploughshares Nursery as logged on the BPN blog, excerpts:

The chainsaws started early on Barbers Point Rd., followed closely by the angry whine of the chipper as it tore up the 20 plus trees that used to enrich our little neighborhood. Just under two acres of rich habitat for wildlife and the enjoyment of neighbors was turned into an ugly flat empty lot in under 7 hours.

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This two-acre area between Barbers Point Road and Main St. was what is called an edge environment. An edge environment tends to have both trees and open field. This combination provides food and shelter for a wide range of animals making a particularly rich environment that supports more wildlife than either an open field or a fully wooded area.

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With some careful planning and effort this land can accommodate both the wildlife and Ploughshares expansion plans. I encourage you to take a minute and call the numbers below. Please ask Alameda Point Collaborative and Alameda City Planning to prepare and implement a tree replacement plan as soon as possible…

Of course I was a little shocked after I read this, after all, I knew Ploughshares and its parent agency: Alameda Point Collaborative to be very aware of its surroundings and neighbors.   I had seen plans for the expansion of Ploughshares and found them to be great.  If it was true that a habitat and trees were being ripped up willy nilly, it would truly be a shame.   Fortunately, Doug Biggs of APC responded rather quickly on BPN about what actually happened, excerpts:

…only seven trees were cut down. These were all black acacias, which are listed as an invasive species (weed) on the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) Website.

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The trees were old, disease prone and, contrary to your statements, provide very limited habitat. We cut them down in January precisely because this is the time of year the work would have the minimum impact on any animals, particularly nesting birds…The removal of seven trees in an open field will have negligible negative consequences, and most likely positive impact on wildlife - with that positive impact coming from increased pollination of the cover crop we have planted.

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Of the wildlife you mentioned: Redtail hawks, Great Blue Herons, hummingbirds, Redwing Blackbirds, Jack Rabbits, gophers, House Finches, Mockingbirds, Blue jays, and Crows–none of them are known to use the Acacias. They have, however, been making frequent use of the other plants we have planted at Ploughshares Nursery and around our community…

Leading up to the cutting of the trees, we have planted over 35 appropriate trees on the Ploughshares property and over 100 trees throughout the larger property we manage at Alameda Point. Consisting primarily of locally suitable fruit trees, this vegetation will provide much better wildlife habitat, while also providing much needed food for low income families. The black acacias provided neither.

The remediation plan that you ask for already exists, in the form of the site plan for the development of Ploughshares Nursery, including significant additional plantings, the creation of a demonstration garden, and tree screens…

It appears that this was nothing more than a case of miscommunication between what appears to have been pretty good neighbors previously.   Ploughshares is apparently holding a community meeting to address the concerns which should be a really great start.   And while I think it is important to be concerned about the possible destruction of open space and particularly the unnecessary cutting down of perfectly healthy trees, however if the replacement plan (around 135 new trees and plans for an extensive garden etc…) provides an equal if not better alternative, then we should be supportive of that as well.  

Hopefully, the Barbers Point residents and Ploughshares can come to an understanding on this issue, I’ll be following BPN to see what the update is in the coming weeks.