Our URBANIZED forest is in jeopardy.
Dear Mayor, Councilmembers, Commissioners, Forestry, Public Works, and Planning Staff,
The City of Carmel website currently asks us to “Take Carmel’s Urban Forest Community Survey” in order to develop its “Urban Forest Management Plan.” There is a significant problem with this effort. We Carmelites do not live in an Urban Forest: we live in an Urbanized Forest.
This is not just a problem of semantics. The failure to use the accepted terminology when describing Carmel corresponds with a failure to understand and sustain the natural environment that has always defined this community. We have lost sight of what our founders knew as they sought to attract residents to live in “a village in the forest by the sea.”
An Urban Forest is one where a forest is designed around a pre-existing urban development. An Urbanized Forest is the exact opposite: where the urban development is designed around a pre-existing forest. With its Monterey Pines, which first appeared in the Americas approximately 15 to 25 million years ago, Carmel’s forest is ancient and irrefutably pre-existing. It is also rare and at risk: located only five places in the world, its surviving stands are now estimated at under half of their pre-settlement acreage.
A misunderstanding of this magnitude has tangible repercussions. Take, for example, our city’s current stated policy of “one tree out, one tree in.” Though well-intentioned and perhaps suitable for an Urban Forest, this policy lacks the species specificity required to maintain our Urbanized Forest. When we remove, say, a Coast Live Oak or Monterey Pine and then replacing it with a Strawberry Tree, Pepper Tree, or Dogwood Tree, as we have been, we steadily erase the original forest. With tree removals and replacements now reaching multiple hundreds per year, we must study and correct our approach immediately.
A good study will reveal that even replacements in the correct genus of Oak or Pine will not suffice — we must also get the species absolutely right. For example, recently the city decided to introduce Ponderosa Pines, Knobcone Pines, and Torrey Pines amongst our Monterey Pines. Now, Torrey Pines might be acceptable in an Urban Forest with no pre-existing ecosystem. But, for our rare and ancient Urbanized Forest, that species is a potential disaster. Its root system evolved in the hotter, dryer climate of Southern California to spread 200 feet or more and reach 25 feet deep. This creates serious competition with our pines and oaks for water and nutrients, jeopardizing their very viability.
In order to nurture an existing forest, first that forest must be correctly described, studied, and managed. Fortunately, the city’s existing General Plan, Local Coastal Plan, ordinances, and aspects of the current Forest Master Plan already provide excellent guidance. Legally, these documents must again be enforced. Our native forest is an iconic attribute of Carmel-by-the-Sea, intrinsic to its character, which must be preserved and enhanced as a defining aspect of Carmel’s identity.
We, the undersigned, urge you to fundamentally re-examine recent planting specifications and current work on our generic Urban Forest Management Plan and re-launch your efforts with accurate information to create a true Urbanized Forest Management Plan, specific to Carmel.