Woodland, City of Trees.
By Steve Radosevich, Board Member, Woodland Tree Foundation
While the current stretch of warm weather in Woodland is welcomed by many, it’s also a warning that the likely 100-degree summer days are not too far off. We are reminded to get our air conditioners checked out, pull out our summer clothes, and get outside to test our landscape irrigation systems.
While walking around my yard this morning thinking about my landscape plants and the sweltering days to come, I first noticed the light green leaf tips emerging on some of the nearby shade trees in the neighborhood. Hooray, re-leaf and relief are on the way, and once again the summer will be more bearable, thanks to these wonderful shade trees.
Most people probably don’t think too much about the need for shade until the first stifling exposures to summer heat - and then automatically seek shade at every opportunity. Planning your morning walk down a shady path or sidewalk, finding a shady spot to park the car, or a shady place in the back yard to have lunch with friends – and much of the time this shade will be provided by trees planted 10, 50, or a 100 years ago.
Some of the oldest trees in the Central Valley, including Woodland, are the 300- to 400-year-old oak trees often planted by scrub jays burying acorns. Most of the other younger trees were planted either by property owners or by local government, planting street trees and trees in parks and other public places.
Since most landscape trees have a much shorter lifespan than our oak trees, we must continue planting more trees to replace those that die, if we intend to maintain our shade canopy and expand it to less shaded areas of the City.
In Woodland, and in other progressive cities, non-profit organizations recognize the numerous benefits trees bring to the community, and assist the City and private property owners in purchasing and planting trees. Our local non-profit organization, the Woodland Tree Foundation, was founded in 2000 and has planted over 6,000 trees in the Woodland and the surrounding area.
More information about how get some free shade trees planted on your property is available on this website. You can also learn how to volunteer to help the Woodland Tree Foundation plant more trees in your community.