🚀 go-pugleaf

/* Written  2:33 PM  Dec  5, 1994 by ens in igc:ewire.news */

TO CITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

5-YEAR-OLDS `GRADUATE' FROM NURSERY:  UNPRECEDENTED
REFORESTATIONOF
OAKS UNDER WAY AT AHMANSON RANCH

    CALABASAS, Calif., Dec. 5,  -/E-Wire/-- An unprecedented event
is under way at Ahmanson Ranch, where approximately 2,000 young
oak trees are being planted as part of the planned community's
tree reforestation program.
    "This is possibly the largest on-site, acorn-to-oak-tree
planting program in Ventura County's history," said Stan Roberts
of Ag Land Services, the agricultural company responsible for
installing the irrigation system, planting and ongoing maintenance
of the young oak trees.
    Areas in 12 different savannahs of the Ahmanson Ranch are
being prepared to receive the 5-foot-tall oak trees, which will be
transplanted from 15-gallon containers into community open space
areas.  Roberts said that the success of the reforestation program
is bolstered by the fact that the young oaks were actually grown
from acorns taken from existing mature oaks on the Ahmanson Ranch.
"The acorns are obviously adapted to the local environment and
genetically stronger," said Roberts.
    In addition, the on-going preservation and replenishment
program received a significant boost last year when 100 young
trees were planted as a pilot program.  "We collected valuable
information from the test run as to how to proceed with this
phase, which calls for planting about 2,000 trees," said Gil
Nielsen, senior vice president of the ranch owner, Ahmanson Land
Company.  Nielsen related, "We learned how to deal with protecting
the young tree roots from predatory rodents, and the importance of
keeping the soil moist."
    Roberts, Ag Land's vice president of land management, called
the Ahmanson reforestation program "elaborate."  He said the
current several-week effort even involves nourishing the plants
with liquid nutrients via the irrigation system.  This stage's
planting process began Monday, Nov. 21.  The pre-planting includes
random selection of each oak tree site, staking out, de-weeding in
a five-foot area surrounding each new tree, installing the
irrigating system, digging holes and installing gopher-proof wire
mesh around each tree.  Fertilizer is fed to each tree and the
area mulched.
    An elaborate tagging system will identify each oak from
planting to maturity.  A recorded history of the trees' health and
growth is evaluated through annual checkups.
    The Ahmanson Ranch oak tree planting program was initiated in
the fall of 1989 to launch a healthy nursery of seedlings raised
from valley oak and coast live oak acorns gathered on the property
by Boy Scouts.  It is these 2,000 trees from that planting that
are now being transferred to permanent quarters in their native
habitat.  In October, as part of the ranch's educational program
about reforestation, a second acorn harvesting and planting was
carried out by 55 students, teachers and parents from Oak Park's
Medea Creek Middle School.  In all, an estimated 6,000 new oaks
will be grown on the ranch.
    The ranch reforesting program ensures against some of the
natural causes of poor oak tree regeneration such as grazing, and
proliferation of gophers, ground squirrels and non-native grasses
and plants.  The trees fit into the important, life-giving cycle
of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and preservation of the wildlife
corridors.
    Ahmanson Ranch is the site of a proposed self-contained,
planned community which balances development with sound
environmental and restoration planning.  In the open space areas,
as well as in areas adjacent to the ranch golf course, the
reforestation will enhance the existing oak woodlands and oak
savannahs, as well as wildlife habitats.  The development proposal
for Ahmanson envisions a compact, self- contained,
pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use community that will bring nearly
10,000 acres of open space to public parkland.
    Located in the southeast corner of Ventura County, Ahmanson
Ranch has been owned for about 30 years by Home Savings of
America, a subsidiary of H.F. Ahmanson & Company.
    -0-                        12/2/94 R
    /CONTACT:  Gil Nielsen, senior VP of Ahmanson Ranch,
818-880-4325; or Kitty Dill, 818-991-3593/
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*  This information excerpted from EcoNet, a nonprofit online system  *
*  specializing in environmental issues.  For further information on  *
*  EcoNet membership, send any message to <econet-info@igc.apc.org>.  *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *