| Basking Ridge, N.J., grew around a church that was built beside a tree 300 years ago. At that point the tree had already seen three centuries. But now experts say the oldest white oak in North America is destined to come down. Steve Hartman went “On the Road” to talk to a town filled with mourners.
The Christmas Tree Lane Walk Nights will take place on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 and Tuesday, December 8, 2015 from 6 to 10 PM.
Tree Fresno provides a Shuttle Express service which can be boarded at two locations:
The first bus leaves the North Station at 5:45 PM and the last bus leaves at 9:30 PM.
Tickets cost $7 per person. Children ride free when seated on an adult’s lap. Tickets may be purchased at Whole Foods Market, on line at Eventbrite or on site during each Walk Night.
Call 221-5556 to group reservations. Tickets are non-refundable.
Bonus! You get a coupon for a free Habit Hamburger for each ticket purchased at Whole Foods.
Sponsors: Fenston Apiaries, Whole Foods, Habit Hamburger, Soft Rock 98.9 and ABC30.
We invite Tree Fresno members, educators, students and friends to enjoy music and a picnic, as we celebrate our Demonstration Gardens and “Living Laboratories.”
Horticulture Park
A corner of Dickey Playground in downtown Fresno is getting a green makeover.
Members of the Girl Power Club at nearby Lowell Elementary School and Mayor Ashley Swearengin teamed up Friday to plant a young tree at Dickey Playground.
The Aristocrat Pear is one of about 10 trees slated to go onto the site of a barracks-like building that was never eye-catching and struggled over the decades to adequately serve the neighborhood.
The building became irrelevant when the city five years ago built the $1.5 million Dickey Youth Center on Divisadero Street, a block from the playground’s basketball courts. The old building was razed and a slice of green space is about to emerge.
Grass will soon accompany the trees.
“It’s another sign of life in the Lowell neighborhood,” Swearengin said.
The mayor, City Manager Bruce Rudd and members of Tree Fresno provided moral support and green-thumb expertise as the fifth- and sixth-graders wrestled the tree into a hole. The girls were quick learners, deftly extricating the Aristocrat Pear from its plastic bucket.
“We saw some girl-power action,” Swearengin said.
Dickey — one of Fresno’s historic playgrounds — has seen quite a transformation in recent years. First the youth center, then a splash park, now a tiny urban forest.
The mayor stayed for one tree-planting, then headed back to City Hall. The stalwarts of Lowell’s Girl Power Club grabbed shovels and continued the work.
The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6272 or ghostetter@fresnobee.com.
Read it in the Bee at http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/11/22/3625913/lowell-elementary-girls-help-bring.html
Hot cities are ‘heat islands’ that contribute to ozone
In sweltering September 2011, Fresno could have used more trees. Temperatures climbed, winds died and lung-searing ozone spiked the season’s highest readings on three days.
Worse yet, all three peaks broke the one-hour federal ozone standard between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays when children were outside after school.
An extensive canopy of trees over streets, parking lots and driveways might have kept ozone-cooking heat down just enough to avert those dangerous peaks, say researchers. Plus, trees actually take pollutants out of the air.
It’s time to talk seriously about using trees and other city-cooling ideas, such as reflective or cool roofs, to end the San Joaquin Valley’s decades-long quest to achieve the federal one-hour ozone standard, say air-quality leaders.
These days, only a few parts per billion of ozone on a few days a year separate the Valley from the achievement…
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that we all would benefit from more trees,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of planting new trees. We need to replace trees that have died and retain mature trees in this city.”
