A visit with a 1,000-year-old tree in Montana made me wonder why we don’t do more to celebrate Pasadena’s living landmarks.
While visiting Seeley Lake, Montana, someone told me about Gus. I had never heard of him but knew I couldn’t leave without meeting him, which is how I found myself walking through an ancient grove looking for a tree (a 1,000-year-old western larch standing 153 feet tall and nearly 23 feet around, to be precise). According to the sign beside Gus, he has survived at least 40 fires.
This tree wasn’t especially easy to find, tucked away in the grove along the lake. You had to know it was there and go looking. A local bartender told me the story about how an Eagle Scout’s Service Project helped identify Gus and tell his story. The visit and journey to see Gus made me think about Pasadena and the special trees we have here.
I have always cared deeply about Pasadena’s trees. After the Eaton Fire, as the controversy over PUSD’s tree removals and remediation continues, I was pleased to see the City pushing to preserve as many mature trees as possible under Pasadena’s Tree Protection Ordinance. I have also been moved by the young people who continue to show up for the trees at their schools — protesting, speaking out and even staging tree-sits to try to save them. And despite the recent removals, it is encouraging to see PUSD now considering an ambitious goal to substantially increase the mature tree canopy on its campuses. If this controversy has demonstrated anything, it is that I am hardly alone in caring about Pasadena’s trees. A great many people in this city love them, value them and are willing to show up for them.
But back to Gus. Standing beneath its canopy, I could almost feel its age. It was quiet and stoic. It felt as though time were standing still. It was a beautiful experience. Gus made me wonder: Where are Pasadena’s great trees?
Pasadena has officially designated Landmark Trees, but where are they? How old are they? Who planted them? What history have they witnessed over the last century and beyond? Are there others that haven’t yet been designated? And why isn’t there an easy way for residents to discover them?
Imagine a Great Trees of Pasadena map. Start with our Landmark Trees. Give us a photograph, location, species, approximate age, and, most importantly, the story. Let residents nominate other extraordinary trees. Perhaps create walks that encourage people to go out and see them.
Pasadena is already asking these kinds of questions around the history of our buildings. Through Historic Places Pasadena: Completing Our Story, the city is inviting residents to identify places and stories that matter, and has created an interactive story map to help document them. Why not do the same for the history of our trees and living landmarks?
Maybe that is where a Great Trees of Pasadena map should begin, with the trees we already love, and the stories we have not yet told.
I know at least one: the enormous Moreton Bay Fig on Marengo Avenue between Green Street and Del Mar Blvd. With its massive base it almost looks prehistoric, but we know exactly when its story began. Thomas Earley, who would later become Pasadena’s Mayor, planted it at 170 South Marengo in 1880, six years before Pasadena incorporated.
His house is now gone, but the tree remains.
The next time you drive down Marengo, slow down and look for it. Better yet, stop and see it up close. Once you know its story — and stand beside that extraordinary trunk — I suspect you won’t look at it quite the same way again.
Where are the trees that matter to you and your family? It is hard to imagine some of Pasadena’s campuses without the trees that have shaded generations of students, or some of our most beautiful streets without the canopies that define them. It’s what makes our city so unique and beautiful—a “Tree City” for all of us to be proud of and enjoy. Let’s share the experience I had with Gus and map Pasadena’s great trees. Tell your city council your favorite neighborhood tree. Let’s find Pasadena’s great trees, tell their stories and make sure the next generation knows where to find them.
