Note: The following appeared as an editorial in the
Reno-Gazette Journal "It's your turn" on March 26, 1999 in response to
a recent article quoting the Urban Forester for the City of Reno
that the Cottonwood Trees along the Truckee River in Wingfield Park would
be cut down over the next several years (due to disease) and replaced with
"oak trees". The article quoted the forester as claiming the nearly
century old trees were not "natural".
Your article and editorial on the cottonwood trees along the river and Riverside Drive beg for a correction. We support the urban forester on removing diseased trees, but we don't support removal of trees just because they're old. Yes, cottonwood trees can be messy and water consumptive.
That's why they grow along rivers. And that's the point we want to correct. Intermountain Flora by Columbia University Press, and Trees of the Great Basin by Lanner identify Fremont cottonwoods (populus fremontii) as native and natural to river systems in Nevada. John C. Fremont found cottonwoods along the river near Pyramid Lake in 1844. Black cottonwoods and narrow leaf cottonwoods are also native to our river.
Unfortunately, we have lost much of our cottonwood canopy.
Our river used to be lined by cottonwood for most of its length between Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake. Our cottonwood population in the Reno/Sparks area and downstream to the reservation is in serious decline because dams have cut off h igh spring flows that disperse and water the seeds and seedlings.
In addition, urban encroachment, flood control/channel straightening and riprapping the banks deter the establishment of new trees and change the natural regime beneficial to growing new cottonwoods.
If the urban forester is serious about native trees or natural populations along our river, then he should consider cottonwoods, black willow, aspen and alder. We need to encourage proper riparian habitat along our river.
While non-native oaks have been planted to provide color and some shade, they cannot compete with cottonwoods in providing shade necessary to cool water for fish, provide habitat for birds or offer shade for people along our wonderful river paths. If drought is the issue, then we should consider drought-tolerant trees in our parks and medians.
In other words, our "Tree City" needs to provide variety in keeping with the microclimates they serve. Cottonwoods do that along the Truckee River.
We might also state that the city has planted tamarisk along the river and in street medians. Tamarisk, while pretty and pink in the spring, has been declared a noxious weed that threatens to choke our river systems in Nevada. Tamarisk has been declared to be a hybrid and therefore unable to reproduce by our own state forester. If that is true, why are we now infested with tamarisk?
Tamarisk spreads both by seed and roots. It outcompetes other plants by exoding salts from its roots and leaves. Those salts prevent other plants from colonizing or growing.
In the meantime, make no mistake! Cottonwoods are both native and natural to our Truckee River system. We need to leave Walter Van Tilburg Clark's "City of Trembling Leaves" cottonwood legacy for history and the next generation. They are part of our natural and human environment.
--Susan B. Lynn, Commodore, Truckee River Yacht Club
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