Los Angeles without palm trees? The aesthetic, climatic and economic debate agitates California

It is almost impossible to imagine. Cinema, series and illusion have always made us see Los Angeles as a city of palm trees. Long streets with towering, swaying trees on each side, beaches decorated with them, elegant hotels surrounded by their bright leaves, hamburgers and milkshakes in convertibles adorned by their shade… or not. Because that’s where a good part of the problem lies: in the shadows. The palm trees, stylized and aesthetic, barely generate freshness, something that is, more than uncomfortable, terrible in times of climate change. But, in addition, palm trees are expensive to plant and maintain, always thirsty. And, to make matters worse, they are in danger of extinction in the city. Because, surprise, no, palm trees are not endemic Californian trees. In this city of immigrants, even the palm trees are. Although they have adapted more than well to the sweet climate of the Western United States, in reality a good part of the city’s palm trees are imported. Many of its specimens and varieties were not born there, but were planted during the 19th and, above all, 20th centuries. Hence, the useful life of most of them is in its last breaths, and the city has to start thinking about its future. The Los Angeles area consists of a million trees, the largest forest park of any city in the country (New York’s, with a smaller area, is denser). But according to an exhaustive analysis carried out over 10 months by the consulting firm Dudek, there are no plans for its management; After presenting it to the city council, measures have begun to be taken.View of downtown Los Angeles, California, in March 1991. Bill Nation (Getty Images) The city has a roadmap, which extends to no less than 2050. But by 2028, the year in which the Oscars will turn 100 years old and the city’s third Olympic Games will be held, decisions have been made. In a report released in August 2021, they explained that 20% of the shade produced by the city’s trees is located in just four neighborhoods: inequality also extends to greenery. By that long-awaited 2028, they intend for shade throughout the city to grow by 50%, through support from communities and municipal and private funds to, above all, plant (but also conserve) trees considered large, whose crowns are at least 75 centimeters. And often palm trees don’t fit in there. But for that you have to invest. And curiously, the city is the one that invests the least in greenery in the country, according to the Los Angeles City Plants program, founded by its Department of Water and Electricity: just 6.3 dollars (5.35 euros, at the exchange rate), per person and year. In budget per tree (27 dollars a year), it is very low, when neighboring San Francisco puts 78 dollars for each of them. Vista Las Palmas neighborhood in Palm Springs, California, on April 5.Myung J. Chun (Getty Images)For all these reasons, palm trees are complicated to maintain. Their water consumption is high, their pruning is complex (specific machinery is needed to reach the top, and a couple of experts), sometimes they become nests for rats, they burn easily and in exchange, despite their beauty, they barely generate shade. But they are so beautiful that the clever builders who developed the city in the late 19th century placed them in every house, beautiful and dramatic, to sell sunny California to the frozen migrants from the East. And in 1932, tens of thousands of Mexican palm trees were planted to cheer up the city ahead of its first Games. Many of them still survive. The oldest of them all, now located in Exposition Park – precisely where the Games will be held – has moved so many times and is so well known that it even has its own page on Wikipedia. It is so old that the workers no longer even go up to it to prune it, but instead tear off its old leaves from a crane. In 2006 there was already a fungal plague that destroyed dozens of palm trees imported in the 18th century, the so-called palm trees of the Canary Islands; the natives survived. The disease and the advanced age of the canaries meant that almost half became infected (it was transmitted by pruning tools, as it was later learned), and many did not survive, especially in iconic areas for tourists and locals such as Melrose Avenue or Beverly Hills. Exposition Park, Los Angeles, with the Coliseum in the background.Seauton (Wikicommons)In this 21st century, with construction here and there, the subway and airport expanding, new museums, more housing development… many trees are uprooted and, although two are planted for every one removed, the shade will take years to arrive. Not to mention that in 2024 the budget for the Urban Forestry Division (which is responsible for 700,000 trees) was reduced by 1.1 million dollars, according to the Los Angeles Times. That’s why palm trees are in the spotlight. The debate is common in talks, local newspapers, and television networks. The experts complain. They clamor for less demanding and more widespread species, such as the beautiful (although dirty) jacarandas, which turn the streets purple in spring. But, for the moment, and even more so in a monstrous city where it is difficult to make decisions, palm trees seem to continue being protagonists of postcards and movies. You can consult other letters in this section here.