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A heritage oak tree that was to be the centerpiece of a new public courtyard has toppled, apparently due to natural causes related to recent storms.
The tree, located at the site of an office development being built at 1020 Alma St. in downtown Menlo Park, crashed to the ground either Jan. 22 or 23, according to City Arborist Christian Bonner, who evaluated the tree on Jan. 24. It would have provided shade for a publicly accessible courtyard and cafe area.
The three-story, 25,000-square-foot office building being constructed there is planned as headquarters for the family office and philanthropic operations of Eric and Wendy Schmidt of Atherton. Mr. Schmidt, a former CEO of Google, is executive chairman of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company.
Why tree fell
Mr. Bonner said that several of the tree’s structural roots appeared broken, and that the soil surrounding it had been saturated with rainwater from recent storms.
When asked whether the nearby excavation of a two-story underground garage may have affected the tree’s roots, Mr. Bonner said that seemed unlikely.
The oak is one of several large-canopy trees that have fallen in Menlo Park in recent weeks due to storms, he said.
Prior to the development at the site being approved, he said, another arborist working on the project had rated the tree’s health as “fair” and suspected that the tree had root disease.
“From what I understand, it was really just nature that took its course there,” said Assistant City Manager Chip Taylor.
The developer had undertaken a number of actions to preserve the tree, Mr. Bonner said, including adding mulch to improve soil conditions and fencing off the tree around its “drip line,” or the circumference around a tree’s canopy.
Trees can get stressed from disturbances in smaller roots outside of the drip line area, as theoretically could have happened with the nearby excavations, but those changes typically take at least a year to manifest, he said. That is not something he believes happened in this case.
If you think about it, he said, storms put a lot of pressure on trees. Rain weighs about eight pounds a gallon, and when hundreds of gallons are being dumped over a canopy’s entire surface area, it adds up to a lot of extra weight very quickly.
Add strong wind gusts and weakened tree health due to drought or root disease, and it’s no wonder that trees fall over most often during storms, he said.
Anna Henderson, a Menlo Park resident and passerby who recently saw the downed tree, said in an email, “With so many stately oaks succumbing to sudden oak death and other problems – it’s a shame to see a (healthy) one on its side.”
The tree was valued at more than $25,000, according to an industry standard formula for calculating the values of trees, said Mr. Taylor. The developer will be expected to replace the tree at a similar value.
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That oak tree was absolutely beautiful. I live right behind this development and whatever they’re constantly pounding into the ground caused my apartment to shake like an earthquake. No wonder the tree was stressed out and died.
Sad:
from the article:
“Mr. Bonner said that several of the tree’s structural roots appeared broken, and that the soil surrounding it had been saturated with rainwater from recent storms.
When asked whether the nearby excavation of a two-story underground garage may have affected the tree’s roots, Mr. Bonner said that seemed unlikely.
The oak is one of several large-canopy trees that have fallen in Menlo Park in recent weeks due to storms, he said.
Prior to the development at the site being approved, he said, another arborist working on the project had rated the tree’s health as “fair” and suspected that the tree had root disease.”
“If you think about it, he said, storms put a lot of pressure on trees. Rain weighs about eight pounds a gallon, and when hundreds of gallons are being dumped over a canopy’s entire surface area, it adds up to a lot of extra weight very quickly.
Add strong wind gusts and weakened tree health due to drought or root disease, and it’s no wonder that trees fall over most often during storms, he said.”
Doesn’t sound like the construction had anything to do with it to me.
Menlo Voter: There’s no way this heritage oak tree was not affected by the construction activity. I live just behind the construction site and everyday my apartment shakes from the constant pounding from the heavy equipment digging the giant underground parking structure. I’m sure the tree would still be standing if not for the ridiculous project. Check out the site and see for yourself.
My heart goes out to the beautiful tree. I’d much rather look at the tree than the ugly 3 story office building for Eric Schmidt’s venture capital schemes and non-profit endeavors, one of which is saving Nantucket (who cares about Menlo Park when Nantucket is so much more important) will soon loom over everything.
sad:
so the arborist was lying? You read what he said, right? Are YOU an arborist?
I don’t need to be an arborist to see the obvious; besides, the tree was declared healthy enough to be preserved less than a year ago. Sure the roots could have been weakened be the rainfall, but it probably wouldn’t have fallen if it hadn’t been compromised by the the constant pounding from the giant bulldozer and other machinery next to it, digging an enormous hole in the earth for a multi level underground parking structure. The intense pounding shook the earth, including my apartment. It’s no coincidence that the tree fell during the digging/pounding. Poor tree.
Okay, so we have an Almanac commenter said that he is an expert over a professional arborist?
This is one of the problems with the Internet. People spout of random nonsense without one iota of backing evidence and claim that they know more than people who pay RENT by doing what they do.
The next time someone dies of a tumor, are you going to explain why the neurologist was wrong?
Sure, you are free to speak your voice, but to the people who run Embarcadero Media sites, this is the insane nonsense that kills off reader engagement (and thus ad views).
It’s like the morons who claim that “Caltrain cut our community in half” when the reality is that the train tracks have been here for 150 years. Garbage like this should be deleted.
Sad:
No, the FACT is the tree was declared to be in “fair” condition. Clearly, based on your response, you’re NOT an arborist and have ZERO knowledge as regards the health of trees. You have an uninformed opinion. Nothing more. You know what they say about opinions……
Well, thanks to the tough negotiation with the developer who sold the property to the Schmidts, we still have a coffee cart. Knowing the City, it will find a tree not on the City’s tree list.
If the property owner had cared for the tree by thining the canopy, it would have lessened the loading of rainwater and made the tree less susceptible to wind. So maybe it did fall from natural causes, but maybe it was also more st risk because of neglect.