Trail Crew - Calle Milano Oak Tree site

June 4, 2026

The Calle Milano oak tree planting site was planted with 60 small oak saplings back in 2010.  Each tree had drip line and small cages installed at that time by ALPS volunteers and the California Conservation Corp using funds from the City of Atascadero's Tree Fund.  The Tree Fund receives money from developers when they remove trees, in this case for the hundreds of tree cut down for the Las Lomas development.  The money is to be used for planting oak trees as mitigation for the removed trees.

Unfortunately the site was not maintained after the intial five years so the browse protection and drip line were in disrepair. Many of the small tree died due to lack of water while deer browsed heavily on the remaining live oak saplings. To top things off, the site was recently mowed to reduce the high grass and fuel near the development. In doing so, the contractor cut down many of the remaining small oak trees, trashing the browse cages and drip line.

The ALPS Trail Crew volunteered to install new cages on the remaining oak saplings to keep the deer from inhibiting their growth. The crew found 19 small saplings and removed the weeds from around their base and then install large browse protection cages.  Since this time more oak saplings have been found and caged, now totaling 31.

Thanks to the ALPS Trail Crew for coming to the recue!