Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-22
CRY FoREsTER's WORK

much hampered in the discharge OF his
duties, first by lack OF means. men,
facilities: second. by lack of popular
knowledge on the subject of arbori-
culture and forestry. For example,
what looks to the uninitiated like a
ruthless massacre of pepper trees is in
reality a beneficent operation that will
result in their future welfare. More
over. the eomplainants in the Thirty
sixth street district must not blame the
forester for the manner in which trees
have been treated. If he had his way
and the wherewithal all tree-lopping,
pruning and cutting would be done sci
entifically, under skilled supervision.
At present. when it is necessary for
the sake of stringing overhead wires
or for the health of the tree or for any
other form of public good to amputate
limbs and branches, the circumstances
of the case, much against the will of
the forester. frequently compel the per-
Torrance of the operation by amateurs.
Grumbling will not remedy this state
of affairs. Neither win protesting. Bet
ter appropriations should be made, and
with capable assistants and competent
inspectors the forester should be placed
in such a dominant position with re-
gard to the trees that he could regulate
not merely official trimming, but the
efforts of property owners. who, under
present conditions, first lose their tenn
pers over a mandate to trim, then, I'M
willing to hire an expert and even more
unwilling to allow the city to do the
work, sometimes assail trees in a spirit
of pique and desperation. With suf-
ficient staff he could also exercise SUI
pervision and wholesome restraint upon
untility corporations whose employees.
carried away by a desire to string
wires speedily, cannot afford time in
which to be ceremonious or even polite
to trees that stand in the way of
franchise privileges.
It is easy to understand that Forester
Harper is CALLED by the ignorance
which he has to combat and by the
hypercriticism to which he is apt to be
subjected by those who do not realize
the hampering limitations under which
his official duties are performed. In
the very city where the financial pro-
vision for arboriculture should be most
adequate it is least sufficient. In Min
and Washington and other eastern
cities where trees are we'll cared for
there are special municipal laws by
provision of which pruning is done by
city employees under supervision of the
city forester or his experts. The east
ern foresters' jurisdiction controls all
trees outside of the private property
line. He has the power to employ and
discharge workmen, which enables
him to regulate with approximate ac-
curacy the performance of the duties of
his office and makes it reasonably GER
| tain that his general policies will be
made effective and that his instruc-
tions will be carried out. Under the
conditions which exist in Los Angeles
the work of pruning is done by men
over whom the city forester has abso-
lutely no control. If their operations
dit itOl NOltCNN hC (eii CtliJ PAONSoA-
The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph
company, which has evoked criticism
recently on account of the alleged
tree butchery for which some citizens
hold 1t responsible, has lower wires
than any other corporation that MAIN
tains overhead wires in this city. In
many instances a permit to this COM
pany to trim trees means of necessity
a permit TO mutilate. Restrictive ar
rangements under which no company
using overhead wires may erect poles
less than forty feet high would give the
shade trees room for growth and for
spread, so that the trimming necessary
for the protection of wires would not
destroy the arboreal symmetry.
An ordinance that would meet the re-
quirements and make life less arduous
for our jealous and overcriticised for
ester would establish forty-foot min
imum for the height of poles and would
devolve on city officials the power to
prune and trim with the stipulation
that the corporations requiring the SER
vice, and not the public. should pay for
the work. In cases where individuals
applied for permission to trim and
where the necessity was referable to
some local or individual cause. pay
ment for the work could be regulated or
divided so that ii would not be bur-
densome expense upon the citizen.
Doubtless some equitable method of de-
fraying cost would be found, and with
this settled and a certainty established
| that bills for the work would be met,
| the forester could conduct his depart
ment with method and efficiency. For
years Los Angeles was without city
| forester. The institution of the office
was a great step in the right direction,
and if Mr.. Harper's hands are upheld
| by the public and if the city win Of
| ficially make satisfactory arrange
ments for defraying the usual and in
cidentaI expenses the work of tree
trimming Will be conducted systemat-
| ically, at tho least possible cost, the
| least possible hardship and the least
possible offense.
Southern California forestry is as a
whole indebted to human enterprise
rather than to primitive nature. The
trees that adorn and shade the valleys
were planted by the hand of man,
Here he found no forest primeval, but
| .