The workers from Atlas Tree Co. arrived at Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery last week.

Their mission: To raze a stand of roughly 80-year-old eucalyptus trees to reduce fire risk from the oily, nonnative giants.

The crews had to abandon their first attempt in early December, when the ground in the cemetery’s lower reaches was still too wet from autumn rain.

But now curious bystanders crane their necks at the almost acrobatic display, as harnessed climbers clamber about in the tree tops, hoisting chain saws on long lines to roosts more than 100 feet off the ground, and then lowering branches the same way.

The branches mostly land with a muted crash, but the heavier sections hit the ground with a thunderous crack.

The crews were hired by the County of Sonoma, which owns about 3 acres of the historic woodland off Franklin Avenue and Terrace Way, where Santa Rosa’s Junior College, Grace Tract and Hidden Valley neighborhoods come together.

The remainder of the 17 acres of open space is in city jurisdiction.

The cemetery provides both a step back in time and an escape from the rat race, with walking trails and graceful oak trees among historic gravestones and 19th century family plots.

Started in 1867 as a burial ground for the town’s early settlers and used through the 1930s, the cemetery is actually a collection of four adjoining cemeteries that have been restored in recent decades by volunteers.

The 110 blue gum eucalyptus trees are believed to have been planted in the 1940s in the county-owned portion of the cemetery, which was designated for those who were unable to afford burial.

The trees, as tall as an estimated 180 feet, have continued growing along a path at the rear of the cemetery, offering shade and a perch for birds, until now.

After the 2017 Tubbs fire and successive wildfires around Sonoma County, Terrace Way resident Geoff Jones grew increasingly antsy about the row of enormous trees growing a short distance behind his back fence.

Though there remains debate, the Australian natives are generally considered highly flammable and volatile, given their high oil content and shedding bark, which leaves the surrounding ground littered with ready fuel.

There also are reports of eucalyptus oil vaporizing under heat and expelling virtual fireballs that can ignite new fires miles away. Many ascribe the severity of the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which destroyed nearly 3,500 homes and killed 25 people, to the eucalyptus trees in the area.

Jones, a nearly 40-year resident of the neighborhood, had persuaded the county in the 1980s to remove several large eucalyptus trees close to his home because he feared they could topple if struck by high winds when the ground was flooded, as it often is during a wet winter.

But it took some doing to work through the city and county, to determine whose land was involved, he said.

A couple of years ago, when he inquired about the fire risk of the remaining trees, he ran into some of the same issues, and “I kind of gave up,” he said.

But a neighbor who lives around the corner grabbed the torch and ran with it.

Mimi Armstrong did some research, discussed the matter with local fire chiefs and approached local elected officials to find the way forward.

The trees “could spit fireballs up to 5 miles,” she said. “They are incredible. What they are is basically a trunk full of fuel.”

She held a neighborhood meeting in her Parsons Drive driveway on Sept. 9, 2020, drawing dozens of people. Almost 60 signed a petition asking for the trees to come down.

“And then we talked to the board (of supervisors) and I just kept nagging them,” Armstrong said.

Supervisor Chris Coursey, who succeeded former Supervisor Shirlee Zane when the cemetery was still in his district, secured the money to cut the trees down during last year’s budget cycle. (Redistricting has put the county-owned part of the cemetery in board Chairman James Gore’s district since then.)

A total $389,700 was set aside for the job last year, including $272,100 for tree removal, though the bid from Atlas came in $50,000 under that, county staffers said.

Additional expenses include fence removal and replacement, trench plate arrangements, clearing of brush and small trees, and site restoration.

A county biologist surveyed the area in advance of the work, and a plan for relocation of a wild bee colony in the area was set up, said county Transportation and Public Works Director Johannes Hoevertsz. The hive was contained inside a hole in a large eucalyptus section and relocated to another part of the cemetery, county Engineering Technician Sarah Fredericks said.

The work is expected to last through March, six days a week, with Saturdays devoted to chipping downed limbs and hauling them away, Hoevertsz said.

Small, native oak trees in the operational zone have been marked with yellow tape, so every effort can be made to spare them, said Carole Quandt, a lead volunteer at the cemetery.

But Quandt was skeptical given the amount of disruption that has already taken place.

“I am hopeful that we can hang onto these trees and they can see the light of day,” Quandt said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.

Environment and Climate Change, The Press Democrat

I am in awe of the breathtaking nature here in Sonoma County and am so grateful to live in this spectacular region we call home. I am amazed, too, by the expertise in our community and by the commitment to protecting the land, its waterways, its wildlife and its residents. My goal is to improve understanding of the issues, to find hope and to help all of us navigate the future of our environment. 

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