Davey Tree Flipbooks

21 March /April 2025 | THE DAVEY BULLETIN CENTENNIAL EUCALYPTUS GROVE IMPROVED Leo Rivera-Barragan, assistant district manager, Lewis Tree Service, a Davey company office, worked with a property management company to address their concerns around the health and safety of a historic eucalyptus grove on an HOA property they manage in Soquel, California. Rivera-Barragan said the eucalyptus grove, estimated to be more than 100 years old, had been topped in the past, which resulted in weakly attached new growth on the trees due to previous poor pruning practices. "To address the concerns, we reduced the crowns in an effort to restore the trees' natural structure," Rivera-Barragan said. "Although this restoration will require several pruning cycles and the grove will require future maintenance, I truly believe the trees are in much better condition as a result of our work. The project was also an important step in ensuring public safety and preserving 20 culturally significant trees." Employees who completed the work over two weeks were: Antonio Avila Gonzalez, trimmer; Isaiah Murrey, foreman; Rogelio Quintana, equipment operator; Kevin Quintana-Merino, trimmer; and Jose "Juven" Escobar, equipment operator. DRG TEAM ASSISTS WITH URBAN FOREST MANAGEMENT Lori Murphy, associate consultant, Environmental Consulting services (EC), Davey Resource Group (DRG), conducted a one-day tree planting demonstration for the California Conservation Corps (CCC), and then worked alongside them giving technical advice for two days of tree planting. The CCC planted 200 trees in the city over eight days. The tree planting was part of the Urban Forest Management Plan that EC, DRG's Rachael Sitz, associate consultant, and Michael Cappon, senior associate consultant, developed with the city. The plan included a city-wide tree inventory, as well as a subscription to TreeKeeper ® , Davey's urban forestry management software. The inventory included collecting data on vacant sites where trees could be planted. More than 2,000 community trees were inventoried, and over 400 vacant and stump sites were identified. Murphy entered the newly planted trees into TreeKeeper ® , and city personnel continued entering the trees as they were planted. "This was a great opportunity to do workforce training that the Corps members can use on future projects," Murphy said. "DRG highlighted the importance of proper tree planting, proper staking, and the benefits of mulch. I believe city personnel also gained some valuable knowledge on tree planting and care as well. This was a project that DRG was involved in at all levels." PERSEVERANCE Lori Murphy assisted the city of Newman, California, with their urban tree planting and inventory efforts. The tree species that were planted, including London plane, ginkgo, Chinese pistache, and eastern redbud, were chosen due to their ability to tolerate heat. SAFETY The crews used a 55-ton crane to lower the sections of eucalyptus trees they pruned. Some of the branches were 15- to 25-feet long. "These were heavy, big branches – some the size of a regular tree," Leo Rivera-Barragan said.

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