Modesto woman is worried after recent storms raise hazardous tree issue once again
Linda Beck has a problem hanging over her head that may sound familiar to other homeowners in Modesto.
The large city-owned tree in front of her home has a heavy limb extending over the kitchen where she often sits.
Beck, 73, said the silver maple tree, with a 5-foot-wide trunk, was mature when she moved into the home on Ardmor Avenue almost 50 years ago. She said the trunk is hollow in the middle and decayed. And the tree is leaning.
“It is scary,” Beck said. “It would take out a quarter of my home if it fell. It’s a big tree.”
In August 2018, a cracked limb fell from the same tree and smashed the roof of a caregiver’s car. Beck said a city crew came out to remove the limb and the tree was assessed at that time. But it wasn’t removed.
Beck said Thursday that she had called the city forestry division every day since Oct. 20 and worried about the tree limbs overhead during the recent “bomb cyclone” that hit the West Coast and caused localized flooding across Modesto.
City tree crews have been backed up with calls since the wind gusts of Oct. 11-12.
Modesto Councilman Chris Ricci said city trees in established neighborhoods in his council district and elsewhere are a huge challenge. He gets two or three tree complaints from residents every day.
The councilman hopes a commitment of more funding for tree maintenance this year will speed up the process of addressing tree hazards.
Budget cuts affecting tree maintenance were unavoidable following the 2008 economic collapse in the United States, and the city didn’t budget well for maintenance over the past decade, Ricci said. The city has 81,000 trees along streets.
“They have done a pretty good job (with tree maintenance) over the last year, but it’s such a huge problem it will take several years and that’s assuming we decide to appropriately fund the forestry department,” Ricci said.
Plenty of city residents are paying attention to the issue. The councilman received 170 comments about city tree issues on a Nextdoor post in July after he voted to increase the city tree budget by $1.85 million this year.
Modesto plans to spend $2.6 million in a two-year effort to catch up with removing diseased trees, trimming branches and cutting mistletoe. About $46 million in one-time funding from the American Rescue Plan Act makes it possible to pull 70% of the $2.6 million from the city general fund.
A homeowner can request an inspection for a diseased or old tree. Based on the city’s assessment, work may be scheduled to remove the tree or address the problem in another way.
Owners who are placed on the list for a tree removal say it can take two or three years before a crew with chainsaws and an aerial lift show up.
The city forestry division contacted Beck on Friday and gave her options for dealing with the tree limbs over her home. It was the day after The Modesto Bee made calls to city representatives about her complaint.
Deputy City Manager Caluha Barnes said the tree is scheduled for removal next week.
Ricci said the city’s urban forest is marked by a history of monoculture. The same species of trees were planted in different sections of the city at about the same time.
As a result, large numbers of trees in neighborhoods are susceptible to the same diseases, like mistletoe, which serves to increase the maintenance workload. The city also is faced with replacing hundreds of trees that reach life expectancy at the same time.
The city now replaces old trees with a wider variety of species with an aim to reduce the maintenance costs.
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
