Chico, California   John Eichholz
  Jan 06, 2005 18:31 PST 

ENTS:

A vacation trip to California brouht me back to the Bidwell Park in
Chico. This time I brought my measuring equipment, so I thought I would
file a report. Bidwell park supports a wide variety of mostly planted
species in a arboretum environment bordered by wildland with an
extensive trail system. The Butte river passes through the park, and
along its banks grow the western sycamore, platanus racemosa. These
trees are similar in habit to the eastern sycamore, platanus
occidentalis except for the clusters of upward pointing twigs that are
common on the ends of the branches of the western sycamore. The lack of
leaves on the sycamore at this time of year made it easy to distinguish
from the eucalyptus sometimes planted here. The river banks also sport
an occasional cottonwood, the species of which I am uncertain. On the
flood plain terraces near the river grow exceptional valley oaks,
quercus lobata. Valley oak is similar in appearance to white oak, with
a low branching habit, finely furrowed bark, and cryptic, crooked
branches that make quite a silouhette. The famous Hooker Oak stood in
Chico until its demise in 1977. From the Butte county district website,

"The massive and majestic Hooker Oak, which occupied (this) site, was
named in honor of renowned British botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.
The Hooker Oak was acclaimed to be the largest valley oak in the world
before it fell on May 1, 1977."

Age 326 years
Height 105 feet
Perimeter 481 feet
Longest limb 112 feet
Trunk circumference 28 feet
Area under the tree 18,000 sq. ft."

I can attest to the 105' height as reasonable. I measured several large
valley oak over 100', and to 16.5' cbh in a area less than 50 acres.
The 28' circumference must have been quite a spectacle.

The arboretum is the work of the Hooker family. I didn't find out the
years the plantings were done, but they seem to have had enough time to
mature quite well. The cypress plantation, with Portugese and Italian
cypress growing mixed in rows, had trees in the 5' - 8' cbh range with a
uniform canopy about 100' high. Several Coulter pine, pinus coulteri,
grew near the cypress, along with a couple austrian pine, pinus nigra.
There is a large grove of cork oak, quercus suber that has a shady
orchard-like feel, and with multiple levels of furrowing on leaning,
moss covered trunks. There are a couple groves of coast redwood,
sequoia sempervirens which are growing nicely. One has to realize they
are children at 100 years or so and will continue to grow for
centuries. Several other species were present, enabling me to compile a
10 species Rucker index of a reasonable 111.8.

Farther upstream in the 5-mile section of the park, open grassland
flanks the river except for a narrow forested fringe consisting mostly
of sycamore, gray pine (or digger pine, pinus sabiniana I think) and
ponderosa pine, with some kind of small oak.

Oakland, California has some of the nicest city parkland I have seen.
The Joaquin Miller and Redwood parks are nearest to where I was staying,
and I think are the woodsyest. The Big Tree trail leads up into a
second growth redwood stand of several hundred acres. The steeper gorge
areas in the drainages support some exceptional young redwoods in almost
pure stands. Eucalyptus occurs in plantings (several species) and at
the lower reaches of the drainages where the land levels out. Bay tree,
umbellularia californica, is a component of the understory.

Some trees to list:

Bidwell Park, Chico
species/type/height/girth

Quercus Lobata    Valley Oak

    103.9'    7.0'
    111.8        10.9'
    84.3'        16.5'
    
Quercus Suber    Cork Oak

    72.5'        8.1'

Platanus Racemosa    Western Sycamore            

    106.4'    16.4'
    116.8'    10.7'
    122.8'    10.0'
    134.6'    15.1'

Populus (trichocarpa? fremonti?) Cottonwood

    100.5'    11.6'

Sequoia Sempervirens    Coast Redwood

    126.3'    10.6'

Cupressus sempervirens Italian Cypress

    111.4'    5.1'

Cupressus lusitanica    Potugese Cypress

    113.8'    5.4'    
    115.9'    4.6'

Pinus Nigra            Austrian Pine

    123.4'    9.2'

Pinus Coulteri
    
    108.7'    6.6'

Zelkova Serrata

    94.4'        8.4'

Arbutus Menziesii        Madrone

    62.5'        7.2'


Juglans hindsii        California black walnut

    83.7'        5.4'

    (There are many large black walnut in Chico, but not in this section
of the park)

    

In the Joaquin Miller Park:

Sequoia Sempervirens    Coast Redwood

Upper areas
    119.3'
    125.9'
    113.1'
    135.3'
    127.9'
    116.5'

In ravines
    138.8'
    152.5'
    152.4'
    133.6'
    159.4'
    163.2'
    135.9'

Eucalyptus Globulus

Park boundary near highway
    159.3'
    169.0'