MONTEREY CYPRESS WINDROW

My wife and I were in Mendocino County for her birthday and stayed in a great Bed and Breakfast place. Just outside was this windrow of trees that made a great silhouette against the setting sun. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a photo. As an ISA Certified Arborist I have been working with owners of Monterey Cypress windrows in Santa Cruz, CA. I have noticed that 60 years is generally considered to be the effective lifetime as a windbreak. Lower branches and gaps due to elimination of individual trees, limit the effectiveness of the windrow. When a gap is created by eliminating a tree it creates a funnel that concentrates airflow through it like a venturi effect. Branch tips of trees desiccate and die. As the windrow declines, dead branches add to the fuel load around the base of the trees creating an undesirable fire hazard like the conflagration of the Oakland, CA hills fire of 1991. This same accumulated fuel load debris can harbor fungal and other pathogens that damage healthy trees. One of the most common diseases of Monterey Cypress is "Cypress Canker". It is difficult to replace trees in the gaps of a mature windrow because seedlings and small plantings cannot effectively compete for sunlight and nutrients. The trees in the photo are rapidly approaching that critical point.