City leaders discuss future of Santa Barbara’s Italian Stone Pine trees

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Cheri Rae lights up when she talks about the Italian stone pine trees that line East Anapamu Steet in Santa Barbara, many of which are roughly 100 years old. 
 
“ They were all here before, any of us were. And they're an iconic canopy of beautiful trees that shade us, you know, during the day and they let the starlight filter in at night,” said the local historian.
 
The beloved tree is a designated historic landmark on East Anapamu Street, but they have presented the city with major challenges. 
  
“ They're really good at getting big and we've planted them in relatively small spaces. And that's led to what we refer to as like hardscape disruption or infrastructure conflict, where we have sidewalks that get damaged, roads and curb and gutters and, and these things need to be fixed,”said City of Santa Barbara Urban Forest Superintendent Nathan Slack.
 
Right now, a lot of these trees have either fallen or been cut down because of several root causes.
  
“Sidewalks need to be safe and you need to be able to walk on them…. And when the sidewalk gets repaired, that means that oftentimes roots have to be cut so that you can get the sidewalk installed again so that it meets accessibility standards,” said Slack.
 
Cutting back the roots allows for organisms that cause decay and rot to enter the root system, making the trees weak and unstable.
  
“ I've seen probably about three or four of these beautiful trees fall in the past five years and you'll hear the initial crack and then I'll have time to actually look out my window and see the tree fall,” said Almond Wasserman, who lives in Santa Barbara. 
 
The Historical Landmarks Commission is considering several options, including replacing the removed stone pines with other trees or widening the sidewalks.
 
A total of ten Italian stone pine trees will be removed this year, cutting their number down to 46 on East Anapamu Street.