City of Encinitas Plants Tree
On March 15, a few self-identified Loraxes showed up to speak for the Torrey pine the city of Encinitas planted inside the turnabout at El Portal and Leucadia 101.
At 15 feet tall and with a trunk nearly six inches in diameter, the tree puts the lie to naysayers who claimed newly planted Streetscape trees would be broomstick-diameter saplings.
City Arborist Chris Kallstrand has been assigned to monitor the tree’s health, to periodically measure its diameter and height, and to project in what distant year it will officially become part of the promised canopy.
NCTD’s policy is not to let any tree in the railroad right-of-way grow large enough to make a canopy. So any canopy that might form would have to grow from the median and west side of 101.
It’s hoped that no surprised driver will jump the turnabout curb and plow through its center. That occasionally happens at the Santa Fe Drive and Leucadia Boulevard turnabouts. It would gravely damage or even vanquish the noble Torrey pine.
Local activists want the tree to survive, perhaps so they can festoon it with Christmas lights, ornaments and an angel topper. The Torrey pine could grow to rival the Danforth Norfolk Island pine at C and Fourth Streets across from Moonlight Beach.
In January 1992, Loraxes planted 101 trees along Leucadia 101. Twenty years later, 33 survive. The hope is that this year’s Torrey pine will outlast the 68 that didn’t make it.
The El Portal-Leucadia 101 Torrey pine was planted straight up and down. That’s opposed to most in the long line of Torrey pines that replaced sycamores along Garden View Road. They were planted tilted toward the pavement.
Mayor Blakespear commented that some Leucadia 101 trees had to be removed due to disease or being in the way of Streetscape’s expansion. She said dozens of native trees will take their place. That’s at odds with earlier facts that at least 90 mature trees will be removed and 839 new trees will be planted.
Observers found City Councilman Tony Kranz speaking for the trees during the planting of the Torrey pine. Some remembered that during a 2010 candidates’ debate, Kranz declared he wasn’t a tree-hugger. Evidently, as a 2022 candidate for mayor, he’s wised up.
