When it comes to trees, what will win?sustainability or tradition" Along Santa Barbara?s Anapamu Street sit 56 trees on life support. Each tree has its own irricade, a traffic blockade that has been modified into a watering can, which supplies each tree with 125 gallons of water every 12 hours.
For over a century, these Italian stone pines have formed a a leafy canopy over this drive, enshrining them in local legend?and they shouldn?t need watering. But Santa Barbara remains one of the last California counties consumed by severe drought; four of the pines died before the Parks and Recreation Department intervened.
Tim Downey, Santa Barbara?s urban forest superintendent, installed the irricades because of the pines? history, though other parts of the city?s landscaping tradition have given way to more drought-friendly protocols, like boycotting water-intensive species. ?I?m kind of a realist,? he says. ?I deal with things as they?re presented to me, and adapt as needed.? The question is, how adaptable is Santa Barbara" The stone pines are one example of the residents? attachment to their landscaping history, which has been cultivated for over a hundred years to provide lush conditions uncharacteristic of California cities.
Shifting toward more sustainable plant life in times of deep drought seems easy. But when it?s time to put the spade in the ground, tradition holds Santa Barbara tightly.
The city had been mapping trees before the stone pines arrived, ...