By Town Crier Report

JOE HU/TOWN CRIER Cal Water workers cut down mature eucalyptus trees last week on a Van Buren Avenue property.

The issue of felling eucalyptus trees is now taking hold in Los Altos, where a creekside resident is upset over the trees’ removal at the hands of a water company.

Last week, Larry Gardner watched helplessly as crews from the California Water Service Company took down two tall eucalyptus trees on Cal Water property next to his home on Van Buren Avenue. Cal Water has a water tank and pumping station on the property.

Gardner said he protested to Cal Water and claimed he wasn’t notified about their impending removal. He indicated the eucalyptus cuttings were a carryover to similar action taking place in Los Altos Hills. Earlier this year, the town adopted a plan to ban planting of new trees and order removal of existing ones as a condition of new site development after a falling eucalyptus branch killed a cyclist Jan. 1.

“The issue is that these people are going nuts (over cutting down eucalyptus),” Gardner said, noting that the trees Cal Water cut down had birds’ nests in them.

Dan Armendariz, production superintendent for Cal Water’s Los Altos district, said the tree removal had nothing to do with Los Altos Hills’ actions regarding eucalyptus.

“The trees were in a position where they were a hazard to our facilities,” Armendariz said last week.

He said Cal Water targeted the trees for removal after a branch had fallen on the equipment. He said the trees posed a threat to their operation and therefore to water quality.

“We saw two trees that we’ve seen fall over after a good rain storm,” he said.

Armendariz said he didn’t know about the nests until after work started on the tree removal.