Santa Monica Mountains tree trimming ready




The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works has a tree-trimming program designed to maintain the health of its roadside trees while safeguarding commuters, pedestrians and adjacent private properties.

Public Works is preparing a routine tree trimming project for unincorporated county roads within the Santa Monica Mountains.

The trees included in this project are along Mulholland Highway. Tree trimming will take place through February 2015.

The contractor will work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the stretch of Mulholland Highway between Pacific Coast Highway and Las Virgenes Road, but will only be working from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the stretch of Mulholland Highway between Las Virgenes Road and the Calabasas city limits.

Trimming operations will be suspended on any red-flag warning days.

The contractor will clean all job sites daily, including the raking of leaves, twigs and wood chips. The tree trimmings will be recycled.

The public is asked to keep roadsides free of parked vehicles during the scheduled work. No- parking signs will be placed 48 hours prior to work starting.

Public Works evaluated the overall health and sustainability of each tree proposed for trimming.

The following four types of trimmings will take place:

Crown-raising will remove dead wood and lower branches to provide balanced vertical clearance—13-feet, 6-inches for oak trees and 16 feet for other species. This clearance will allow high-profile vehicles, including emergency vehicles, to pass under the tree canopy.

Crown- thinning, cleaning and shaping will remove dead wood and prune branches throughout to provide a balanced tree canopy.

Crown-reducing will remove dead wood and reduce the height of the tree canopy.

Public Works will only remove trees that are dead, diseased, dying, structurally unsound or where the trunk of the tree is growing over the roadway and cannot be reasonably trimmed to provide the necessary clearance.

Tree stumps will not be removed in areas where the stump and root system help provide stability to the hillside.

Trees recommended for removal were given consideration by the International Society of Arboriculture—certified arborists from Public Works and the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

For more information, call Norik Sahak, tree trimming district supervisor for Road Maintenance District 3, at (310) 348-6454.



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