Readers’ comments: August 23, 2023

Tree inventory story misleading
Dear editor:
The article published on August 8, “City tree inventory growing following 2022 windstorm,” greatly overstates the progress the City of Claremont has made in replacing trees lost from the urban forest. The loss of trees in the winds of 2022 is the tip of the iceberg. The focus on trees lost during that event fails to consider the decline in Claremont’s urban forest as a whole.
A graph that accompanied the agenda for the April 17, 2024 tree committee meeting that shows tree stockage levels since 2013 tells a very different story. According to the graph, the inventory of trees has declined from approximately 27,000 in 2013 to less than 25,000 in 2024, a loss of more than 2,000 trees in a 12-year span.
In 2022, there were a total of 827 trees lost in the city. In addition to the 353 lost in the storm, an additional 474 trees were lost to other causes. The planting of 348 trees falls far short of replacing the losses that year.
Following the 2022 wind event, the City of Claremont Community Services Department proposed the removal of three species of trees which they considered, with little justification, to be vulnerable to winds. This would have amounted to the loss of another 1,364 trees. This proposal was stopped by public outcry.
To protect and enhance its urban forest, the City of Trees and Ph.D.s must do better.
Frederick Roth
Claremont