Trees Dying in the Mt. Shasta Mall Parking Lot

By David Ledger

Several months ago Robert Sid posted on his Facebook page that trees are dying in the Mt. Shasta Mall parking lot. I drove over to the Mall to check it out and found out he was right. Trees are dead, dying, and highly stressed.

There are 14 completely dead trees, 18 almost dead trees with only a single branch or two alive, and many other trees that most likely will not make it through next year. Many other trees may not live past a year or two. Fifteen trees have already died and been removed. In total, 29 trees are dead or missing, and at least 19 will not make it another year.

What is the problem? I am not an arborist or a tree health specialist, however as I see it, 1. many are ash and cannot take many days of 110+ degree heat in an asphalt parking lot; 2. They need more water and 3. The trunks need to be painted white to reflect the hot sun’s rays. The bark on almost all dead or stressed trees is shredding and peeling off. When this happens they cannot draw up enough water from their roots even if they are even being adequately watered.

The solution would be to plant trees that can better tolerate the harsh conditions of parking lots such as native blue oaks or cork oaks, make sure they have adequate water during the summer, and finally paint the trunk of the smaller trees white with latex paint.

It would also benefit the City if they would hire an Urban Forester who could work through the Planning Department and help to enforce a much-needed tree ordinance that has real teeth instead of the developer and commercial property owner-friendly ordinance the city now has. Mitigation fees that many California cities charge for tree removal could cover the cost.

All photos taken on October 9, before leaves changed color