Parks and recreation department seeks ‘mystery lady’ who planted coastal oak trees in Oak Park
By Lori Porter
porter@theacorn.com

Rancho Simi Parks and Recreation is concerned over 13 coastal oaks that were recently planted in the vicinity of North Oak Hills Drive and Medea Creek Lane by a "mystery lady."

An Oak Park resident said he met the woman while walking his dog. She took credit, he said, for planting the trees and said she was very proud of her work. The man informed Kent Behringer, board member of the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) about the mystery woman.

Believing she had good intentions, the MAC and the parks department want to question and not penalize her, but also make sure this doesn’t recur somewhere else.

"She is welcome to plant trees as long as she gets permission and does it correctly," Behringer said at last week’s MAC meeting.

The location of the 13 planted oaks creates problems for Oak Park and the trees. They’re on public land and the parks department is now responsible for their upkeep. They’re planted in an area prone to flooding, which means they might not survive. Also, the trees are too close to homes; residents might object to the trees once they’ve grown. And the trees were planted too closely together, which will eventually compromise their survivability.

Rick Johnson, community affairs administrator for Rancho Simi Parks and Rec, said the glass is half full instead of half empty. "We always appreciate and accept tree donations from the community. However, this person didn’t inform us or get permission to plant the trees."

Although the parks department is the recipient of 13 trees at no cost, it must now invest to keep them healthy or replant them elsewhere. With state budget cuts looming for all government agencies, it’s an unanticipated financial burden.

The parks department is stuck between a rock and a hard place in dealing with the trees because a county ordinance protects oak trees. Any oak that’s an inch in diameter or larger falls under this protection. The 13 trees are all five-gallon trees and either meet or will soon meet the size requirement. Therefore, the parks department is using caution. Nobody wants to remove the trees without replanting them.

The parks and recreation department doesn’t want to cite the woman, but rather educate her on tree planting and its ramifications.

Anyone with information on the identity of the tree planter is asked to call the MAC through Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks’ office at (805) 373-2564 or Rancho Simi Parks and Recreation at (805) 584-4400.