June 3, 2008 — Susanville resident Jim Lytjen stood before the city council at its regular meeting on Wednesday, May 21, at odds with how the city conducts its business. Specifically, he said he had a problem with how the city takes care of the trees within the city limits. He told the council during the public comment period at the meeting that out of all the places he’s been, from Oregon to Hawaii and even Chester and Almanor, he’s never seen the devastation of trees like he said he sees in Susanville.

“There are ways to trim trees under power lines and there are ways not to,” Lytjen said.

Lytjen explained to the council how he went to former Lassen Municipal Utility District’s General Manager Frank Cady to talk to him about the methods used to trim. He said at the meeting he got the feeling from that conversation that nothing would result from it. He said a more recent talk with an LMUD official yielded visible results, with more trees being properly pruned.

“Go to Reno, go to Chico, go to Eugene, Ore.,” Lytjen said. “Big cities, beautiful trees. Tree in many situations will actually reduce the summer temperature by up to 20 degrees.”

Lytjen said his chief concern is that trees need to be trimmed properly. He said the people of Susanville think that butchering trees has become a way of life, and are becoming complacent with poor service. He said there are ways to cut and trim a tree so that it doesn’t actually hurt the growth of the tree. He explained the lopping of entire limbs was not only unnecessary, but dangerous to the life of the tree. He equated some of the tree trimming jobs in the city to the amputating of a human limb.

What Lytjen proposed in his 10-minute address to the council was that the city demand better standards for its tree trimming. He suggested a number of actions the council could take in addressing the issue, from creating a program to bring a registered, certified arborist into town to assess the damage to the trees, to approving a municipal tree ordinance, even the formation of a committee.

Councilmember Rod DeBoer voiced his agreement with Lytjen adding it could be as simple as informing LMUD employees. City Administrator Rob Hill also agreed, saying the issue definitely calls for more training. Councilmember Doug Sayers said that from a city standpoint, the contractors hired to trim the trees need to be involved in any committees dedicated to the issue.

The council directed Hill to look into the matter further, for discussion and possible action at a future council meeting.