Below is the press release sent out 4/19/21. Feel free to forward to anyone you wish to.
The San Mateo County Parks Dept.’s new conceptual Landscape Plan 2020 for Flood Park (Menlo Park) passed 11/10/20 by the SMC Board of Supervisors contains many new amenities and improvements requested in public input meetings held in 2015. Although 92% of the 900 trees in the park will be preserved in the Plan, of the remaining 8% (72 trees), over half are large old native CA Live Oaks, Valley Oaks, Redwoods, and other trees that are slated for removal to build new amenities. Some of these are in areas shown for new pathways and a new playground location. 22 of these trees are within the circle of picnic sites in the meadow ecosystem along Bay Road where a second full-size lacrosse/soccer field is planned. The Tree Report with maps and lists of trees to be removed are at the end of the 9/26/20 Errata to the Final Revised EIR at https://parks.smcgov.org/reimagine-flood-park.
The Design Phase for Landscape Plan 2020 is about to begin with construction expected to start in 2022. Flood Park Tree Advocates 2021 is a small ad hoc group of local people concerned about preserving CA native trees and ecosystems who want to help the public become more aware of which trees are slated for removal in Flood Park prior to the Parks Dept.’s public input meeting which will be sometime in the next few months. (No date yet.) We want to be clear that our purpose is not to oppose any amenities, but to save as many large old native trees as possible. E.g., on March 15th, two very large Bay Laurel trees blew down which might open up space to shift the proposed ballfield and save some native oaks. Other options may be possible.
We have an online petition requesting that new amenities be built around or under these trees. By noon today there were 162 signatures. https://www.change.org/SaveFloodParkTrees. The petition states: “The San Mateo County Parks Department’s Landscape Plan 2020 preserves 92% of the trees in Flood Park. Among the remaining 8% (72 trees) planned for removal in Flood Park to build new amenities, over half are healthy native trees of varying sizes, many quite old and large. We, the undersigned, value these trees for their beauty, their importance in the ecosystem of the park, and their role in combating global warming. We request that new amenities be built under and around native trees, and that the reason for each of the 72 trees slated for removal be published on the SMC Reimagine Flood Park website prior to the first public input meeting.”
For more information and updates email: floodparktrees@gmail.com.
