Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor. The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Mendocino Voice. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor feel free to write to info@mendovoice.com.
This letter is in response to the article “Ukiah residents petition to save downtown’s colorful Chinese pistache trees“ published on Oct. 31, 2025.
Dear Editor:
For those of you living in Ukiah, you may have heard about the latest wisdom coming from City Hall: to “upgrade” School Street — the only few blocks downtown where you dare to walk when it’s 100 F because the mature pistache trees afford shade and cooling. For the proposed upgrade, 55 trees would be cut down.
Am I mad? You bet.
For twenty years, while I was a member of Mendocino County Releaf and the Tree Advisory Group for the City of Ukiah, I urged the city to give the pistache trees on School Street more “breathing room”: ideally, pave the sidewalks, or at least, open up a strip between the trees and the curb and top with sand or crushed granite; this would allow more air and water to reach the roots, thus help prevent roots lifting sidewalks or foundations (roots break concrete and other obstructions out of desperation).
But the city’s tree “care” consists of waiting until problems arise, then cutting down the “offenders.” Between 2012 and 2020, the city cut down 160 trees, of which only 60 were replaced, and the record has not improved since then.
The late Judy Pruden, community leader and Main Street Program organizer, bemoaned that Ukiah “is full of saplings” that never reach their full potential because of neglect, abuse, and premature death. (Of the 300 trees that the Releaf volunteers planted and cared for along State Street 20 years ago, about 100 were cut down for the 2021/22 remodel)
Looks like the city wants to do on School Street what they did on State Street, which they are so proud of (the new tree plantings look good now, but they will start declining once they reach the root barriers and have used up the planting soil in their small tree wells; they also will cause “problems” for awnings, signage, and traffic because they are not being trained/pruned to the correct height and shape).
Trees are viewed by city staff as a nuisance, not as a vital part of the infrastructure. This willful ignorance and the disregard for the public’s wishes continues because there are no consequences: City Council acquiesces to city management, and We the People cannot fire them.
(another wisdom coming from City Hall once again for the Holiday Season: “Ukiah on Ice” — stay tuned)
Bruni Kobbe
For years, years ago, I was a member of the Arbor Tree foundation. In their ‘magazine”, they spoke of helping cities realize the importance of greening cities and areas and how to safely do so. I wondered who I would be able to speak to concerning their advice but, alas, life went on and i went to other issues. Now, I also am wondering how much foresight went into the new seedlings and will be considered in future plantings. Or, will it be business as usual. I applaud the opinion writers article.
I hope this comes across as compromising for city infrastructure and tree sympathizers. School St needs a make over along with upgraded utilities underground. I do think the trees add a special charm and practical element to the downtown core area no doubt. Tree maintenance (training, pruning, etc) cost money the city is not budgeted to do. Keep in mind this is Cal trans money funding a large part of this remodel not the City of Ukiah. Therefore the city’s attitude toward trees is unplanned and not prioritized due to said lack of funding and directive. Do the citizens of Ukiah want well manicured and mature trees, yes? Okay, request a tree service bond or perhaps a fractional % on property and or sales tax to help pay for landscaping services of the downtown core area. If the city has the privilege (funding and directive), to maintain larger mature trees in the downtown core area the city will hire arborists to maintain and make the trees beautiful. Many of the small neighborhoods in and around Ukiah that have larger trees have damaged sidewalks and/ or over overgrown foliage over lapping the sidewalks and pathways. Trees can become a nuisance if they are not cared for by their owners. I had to strip some trees out of my front yard because the roots penetrated the sewer lines and these trees were volunteers not planned out. So all this can be worked out if we plan our community with tree placement / maintenance included in the ongoing costs of beautification.
*Pistache, not pistachio. Chinese pistache. No nuts.
Thank you Mommyca! We have corrected the typo. Thank you for reading The Mendocino Voice!
These trees on school street aren’t even native to California. Thank you China.
Native or not, they support bluebirds. How unique is that to have bluebirds in such abundance in this central, busy area!
Here’s a poem I published some years ago about the lovely pistache trees.
SCHOOL STREET, UKIAH
Old shopping street
lined with pistache
inland
from where trees
are conifers
and dark
sky after rain
saturated
blue
a small wind
golden leaves come
tumbling
oh!
There are foresters in my family who manage plots in Golden Gate Park for the City/County of San Francisco. They know what they’re talking about. When I showed them School Street they immediately pointed out that the tree wells need to be significantly enlarged so the roots won’t lift up the cement. This is kind of Tree 101. Yet when I walk around town, I see mistakes the City of Ukiah is doing over and over again. Using barrier cloth incorrectly, pouring concrete right up to the base of a tree, planting species not suited for the location, etc. WHY isn’t the City using the free resource of the Mendocino College Ag Dept to help advise them? The City also made a huge mistake in planting giant sycamores, (aka London Plane Trees), in those cement planters on State Street. The sycamores will either break them, or die as they become root bound. And they are extremely messy trees with prickly seed pods that are a tripping hazard. A better choice would have been crepe mrytles, (that love our Ukiah climate), or dogwoods – some smaller trees more suited to containers.
Trees cool down city streets, clean the air and provide habitat for many creatures. They increase livability, and property values. It’s extremely short-sighted not to save existing trees that the City has spent years and thousands of dollars to maintain. The pistache trees on School Street have decades of life yet. They live to 100-150 years, and are only about 60 years old. Please do not remove them. And get some better tree advice!
My forester family said this:
“The option of making School Street a one way street, back-in parking, extending the sidewalks and planting a new row of trees for long term solutions, seems the most reasonable to me. Each individual existing tree needs to get a full health and infrastructure report. Every plan has issues and nothing is perfect, this is normal.
I would love to see a comprehensive study of each tree. Exactly which trees are compromising infrastructure, what type of infrastructure, and what are options being discussed for each point of infrastructure compromised. What is the current health of each tree? I think this more comprehensive report for individual trees would provide a lot more information and we could all see, step by step, what the plan is. Gathering multiple arborist consultations of each tree is a very common step in municipal planning, I hope this has happened, and I think sharing that information would really help with public outreach.
Edit: Within these comments the city keeps referring to the new sycamore situation as PERFECT… let’s discuss… while there are many benefits to street trees beyond being pretty, they slow traffic, they calm our minds, they help reduce flow of storm water, they cool the area, etc… planting 70 – 100 ft trees in cement tree wells (yes, the wells are bigger and designed well) that root zone will also try to be about 100 ft wide. This will still complicate infrastructure at maturity. Various types of root barriers are an interesting development, but they have the potential to create an unstable tree when used for tall trees. All of this could be at least somewhat avoided with small to medium sized trees. Trees drop limbs, where is the target zone? For the sycamores in the median, they will eventually drop in the road. Additionally, my experience with municipal trees that have irrigation infrastructure in place, without proper oversight and maintenance of the irrigation it can cause the trees to rot and grow too fast which weakens the wood and causes limbs to drop. If the trees are already taller than the buildings (as stated somewhere in these comments) the trees might already be getting too much water and growing too fast. Please make sure the tree bubblers get moved to the trees drip line as they grow, do not let the trees grow into the bubblers which would cause a wound and rot at the base, turn off the water during rain events (I do not mean to be condescending with that comment, but I see this in cities all over), and maybe, remove those bubs once the trees are established (at 3 – 5 years they might not need irrigation any longer). Instead of the common irrigation system of pvc and tree bubblers, maybe use in-line drip irrigation rings placed on the surface and attached to a surface system that is easy to remove at establishment or (ideally) put as little infrastructure as possible within the tree well and hand water with a water truck or other system (I know that sounds time consuming, but this is often the case for street trees planted in older established infrastructure and gives maintenance folks opportunity to consistently monitor the trees). Because, eventually a tree well full of infrastructure will likely eventually see those trees break those irrigation pvc pipes and cause a water break underneath the tree, that maintenance folks may not see until too late when the tree falls over from rot. These are my experiences and I hope its helpful. Planting any tree in concrete is complicated and never perfect, but much desired and needed. I hope the city planners are including the maintenance crews in their discussions and providing updated educational information from reliable sources such as the International Society of Arboriculture.”
The City of Ukiah needs a dedicated arborist to maintain our beautiful trees. I believe a tiny increase in property taxes would be approved by the voters (I’m talking a few pennies per property).