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Caltrans is asking for public comment on a plan to remove approximately 228 damaged or unhealthy blue gum eucalyptus trees from the large grove on Highway 101 at the Rocks Road exit three miles west of San Juan Bautista. More than half of the trees in the grove will be removed.
The grove was the scene of a three-car accident on Dec. 12, 2022, when two people were killed and five injured when a tree fell across the southbound lane at 3:25 a.m. during a rainstorm. According to Caltrans Public Information Officer Kevin Drabinski, five more trees have fallen onto the road since that incident.
Following the accident, Drabinski said there was no plan to remove the trees, as not all are within what is considered Caltrans’ right of way. However, he said, during a yearly inspection of the grove, maintenance crews began to remove some of the trees considered to be at risk of falling.
In a 2022 interview, tree specialist Wayne Tyson told BenitoLink that the trees have very shallow roots that are easy to damage. “That makes them the first to fall over with severe wind, especially if the ground is saturated,” he said. According to Eric Meier’s The Wood Database, a fully grown blue gum tree can weigh as much as 90 tons.
When the trees identified as being at moderate or high risk of toppling exceeded Caltrans’ available resources, a certified arborist was hired to assess all of the trees. The report, completed in March, indicated that 50% to 75% of the grove will need to be removed.
“The assessment and potential removal of trees is part of maintaining the state highway system,” Drabinski said, “and was not a direct response to the deaths that occurred.
According to the proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration prepared for Caltrans, the removal of the trees will not “significantly affect the quality of the environment.” The study is available on the Caltrans website.
Once the trees are removed, the stumps will be ground down and treated with herbicide to prevent regrowth. They will be replaced with native plantings including coastal live oak, box elder, Arroyo willow, California buckeye and red osier dogwood. Shrub infill will be planted where feasible.
There is no record of when the grove was planted, but it was well established by the time Alfred Hitchcock staged a scene there in his 1958 film “Vertigo.”
The project is scheduled to begin in fall and extend through winter. Public comments will be accepted until June 25 and be addressed in the final environmental document. They can be sent by email, to sunny.mcbride@dot.ca.gov, or by U.S. mail to:
Caltrans
Attention: Sunny McBride
Department of Transportation
50 Higuera Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
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