COUNTYWIDE : New Tree Project Takes Root at Parks

Call it artificial procreation for trees.

Although there are thousands of live oak trees at Irvine Regional Park, the heavy volume of park visitors--more than 700,000 a year--makes it difficult for seedlings to grow into new trees.

So a landscaping company this week is giving Mother Nature a boost by planting about 1,500 native coast live oaks in groves where older trees have fallen down and at other points around the 477-acre park.

“What we are doing at Irvine Park is to provide a continuance for these trees that have been a part of this park for more than 100 years,” said Tim Miller, manager of Orange County’s regional parks. “This is pretty impressive. There are a lot of young trees being grown.”

The tree-planting project is the first of four scheduled at regional parks across the county. They are the product of an unusual $156,000 federal grant that allows landscaping companies and nurseries to bid for various tree-planting jobs at the parks.

The Los Alamitos-based Man of the Tree landscaping company received a $33,000 grant for the Irvine park planting. The firm plans to finish the job by the end of the month.

“We are trying to look out for the future of the park in the next century,” company owner Ben Astenius said.

A total of 7,325 trees will be planted at Irvine as well as Laguna Niguel, Yorba and Mile Square regional parks. Each tree will take root with a specific purpose in mind, whether it be shading a picnic area or blocking out road noise, Miller said.

At Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim, 1,250 sycamore, willow, oak and white alder trees will be planted. The willows will go around the park’s lake. The oak trees will be planted in an attempt to screen a portion of the Riverside Freeway that runs by the park.

About 1,300 willow, pine, white alder and decorative flowering trees will be planted in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Regional Park. Some of the trees will be planted in areas where there is now little shade.

At Laguna Niguel Regional Park, 3,625 sycamore, oak and pine trees will be planted. Willow trees will circle the 40-acre lake.

“It’s a win-win situation. The nursery gets a boost . . . and the people get to enjoy” the trees, Astenius said. “This is not a lot of money, and the value is a lot more than $33,000.”