THE SAGA OF THE DOG PARK TREES

“Shade” has always been something we wanted in the dog park, both in the old facility and the new.  When the current space opened, trees were very much on the “to do” list, but first we wanted to see how the space was being used, how the land would drain during the winter, and how much shade we’d get from the trees outside the dog park.

In May of 2008, one of our dog park visitors, Kathy, asked if she could use the dog park as the basis for a project she was going to do as part of becoming a “LEAF Steward” for the Sacramento Tree Foundation.  She talked to representatives of the FORDOG steering committee about what we had in mind – what kinds of trees we preferred (or wanted to stay away from), how many, and so forth.

From that came a plan that we took to the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District Board of Directors in August.  They approved the plan, but asked that we work with one of their members, Ralph Carhart (who is a licensed and experienced landscape architect) to ensure that the tree species selected would be appropriate for the space.  One of Mr. Carhart’s concerns was that Sacramento has entered a period of drought, and future water availability has to be considered as well as current usage.

In late September, agreement was reached on the trees to be planted: Chinese Pistache and Littleleaf Linden.  And at that point, Kathy began making final arrangements for us to obtain the trees from SMUD through the Tree Foundation.  She also arranged for the latest class of LEAF Stewards to do the actual planting for us, which would ensure that holes were the right depth and that the trees would be properly placed, staked and mulched.

Another volunteer, Travis (you may have seen him in Area 1 with Maddie the Bassett, and Patricia, his fiancé) took on the surprisingly complicated task of arranging for volunteers and equipment to (a) get the holes dug and (b) erect barrier fences to keep both dogs and lawn mowers at a distance for the next year or so.  It was also necessary to coordinate with the Park staff to make sure we didn’t dig on top of or even too close to an irrigation line!

On Thursday, October 23rd, Kathy, Travis and yet another volunteer, John, retrieved our six trees from SMUD, along with a pick-up load of mulch.  The trees were parked inside the locked community garden area just north of the dog park, thanks to the courtesy of the gardeners who shared their space.  Planting locations were marked.  Friday was “remove the sod and dig the holes” day, thanks to Travis operating a rented backhoe (that ground is clay and rocks – a LOT of rocks – and we knew that something big and mechanical was needed!), yet another set of volunteers, and Kathy supervising. 

Saturday morning, 15 LEAF Stewards arrived, and had all six trees planted and staked, holes filled in, and deep mulch applied to help hold water and discourage weeds before noon.  That afternoon, Travis, David and Dan erected the fencing around each tree and finished the clean-up.

Some folks have asked why there are only six trees.  There are several reasons for this.  One, we don’t want to reduce the usable space any more than necessary.  Especially in Area 1, those long-legged dogs need room to run, and owners won’t want to be throwing tennis balls and plastic discs into the trees.  Second, every tree out there creates the possibility that – when they are mature – owners will find it more difficult to keep track of what their dogs are doing.  That impacts both safety and cleanliness.  And third, the more trees we have, the more leaves we’ll have on the ground in the fall, and that too makes it more difficult to keep the ground clean (you know what I mean!).  We hope what we’ve done will create a good balance among the need for space, safety, cleanliness … and shade.

We owe a huge “thank you” to Kathy and Travis and the LEAF Stewards and all our FORDOG volunteers who put time, energy, and yes, sweat into this effort.  It didn’t all go smoothly, and it took time to plan, and the last two days called for a lot of physical effort.  But now we have trees!