Cut Cambria’s pine forest some slack. It’s old — but not ‘very unhealthy’

An article published in The Tribune and The Cambrian (“Are Cambria’s pines in danger? Experts fight to heal forest amid drought, diseases,” Aug. 5, 2022) oversimplifies the current condition of Cambria’s Monterey pine forest, and I would like to offer a counterpoint to that characterization.

First, the Cambria Monterey pine forest is not a “very unhealthy forest” — it’s largely an old forest, but that does not necessarily make it “very unhealthy.”

In fact, there is more than one Cambria Monterey pine forest; there can be six separate forests identified, each with its own conditions and status.

The six forests are (1) the Cambria urban forest; (2) the Fiscalini Reserve forest; (3) the Covell Ranch forest; (4) the Rancho Marino forest; (5) the San Simeon State Park forest; and (6) the Hearst Ranch forest. The latter five forests are in relatively natural condition.

Fire danger

Of these separate forests, the Cambria urban forest is the most important and the most significant for the community. I call it an urban forest because of the many years of development that led to thousands of homes being constructed within it, the planting of numerous other tree and shrub species — including redwoods, Monterey cypresses, other species of pines, eucalyptus, acacias, palms and a host of other mostly non-native trees that create an entirely different milieu than the more natural areas surrounding the town.

The existence of all this development has also had significant effects on the forest. Chief among them is concern over fire; secondarily has been the wish to keep the trees as much as possible. These two features combine to place the urban forest in a kind of stasis or suspended animation.

There are attempts to keep the trees for their scenic beauty and addition to property values, while also requiring careful addressing of fuel loading and attendant fire hazards. As a result, the forest is getting older, the trees larger, the understory more sparse and carefully tended.

This condition is caused almost totally by human actions and desires; it is not evidence of an intrinsically unhealthy forest. But— and this is a big but — this condition also leads to fear of the hazards attendant on large and old trees; they are more susceptible to wind throw in storms or after heavy rains. So the urban forest creates its own conditions and its own needs.

Years ago the static condition of the planted Monterey pine forest of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco led to a contentious debate over how to prevent all those old trees from becoming a hazard. The outcome was an ongoing, comprehensive program to remove hazardous trees and replace them with young ones.

Management efforts

Something like this may be needed in Cambria’s urban forest.

Certain management efforts in the overall Cambria Monterey pine forest are warranted, but these efforts should vary, due to the specific conditions, historical land uses and community goals, as well as the goals of their owners.

At the Covell Ranch, for example, current efforts to remove probably thousands of young pines, along with much of the shrub and small oak understory, seem excessive and are damaging local wildlife habitat.

A recent visit to the Rancho Marino pine forest by a group from the San Luis Obispo chapter of the California Native Plant Society led to recommendations that the operator (the University of California Natural Reserve system) consider the forest to be in a relatively pristine condition. Management should be limited to the areas closest to the town, and any management conducted further away should be minimal, carefully monitored and based upon careful consideration and employment of its research value.

The same is true of the Fiscalini Reserve and the San Simeon State Park sites.

Not much is known about the Hearst Ranch Monterey pine forest, as it has been in private ownership for many years. That forest may be one to be studied a lot more before anything is done there. It is remote from Cambria and San Simeon and does not present a threat to either community. It might even serve as the control of a large-scale experiment, being left to its current management (which appears to be livestock grazing) and observing the changes that go on there.

Drought and disease

With regard to drought and disease, it is true that all the forests are suffering from prolonged drought, but so is everything else. This is a broad-scale issue, but it calls for treatment as trees are individually affected.

There continue to be many healthy trees throughout the forest that appear to be thriving, and the drought claims may be seen as somewhat exaggerated. The same is true regarding diseases. The pine mistletoe and gall rust are native species that have always existed with the pines and always will. The recently introduced pine pitch canker disease is a non-native organism that arrived on the Central Coast perhaps 30 years ago. Its arrival created a panic; people were sure all the trees would die.

That has not happened; the disease attacks trees and can kill or deform them, but the percentage of trees being attacked appears small and the disease can be controlled with timely removal of the diseased individuals.

Like the Monterey pine forest in Golden Gate Park, the Cambria forest will benefit from management; however, I believe it calls for more work with a scalpel and less with a meat ax. Careful and selective removal of the youngest trees where needed, and more attention to keeping the diversity of the understory would go a long way to meeting so-called “forest health” efforts.

Fire hazard is a serious concern, but it is not the only concern. Overall health and richness of the forest and its wildlife are also important.

Calling the forest out as “very unhealthy” is misleading, emotionally charged, and, I believe, a disservice to the community.

Neil Havlik served as San Luis Obispo’s natural resources manager from 1996 to 2012.

This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Cut Cambria’s pine forest some slack. It’s old — but not ‘very unhealthy’."