Replacement Trees Planted in Descanso

200 replacement trees planted in Descanso

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2010 AT 1:19 A.M.

DESCANSO: Volunteers spent part of the weekend planting 200 trees in Descanso to help replace thousands of oak trees that have been killed by the gold-spotted oak borer, an insect ravaging the Cleveland National Forest.

The tree planting, sponsored by the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County and the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County, was the first of two community tree-planting days planned for the area around Descanso, where the most damage has occurred.

On Jan. 30, the two groups will hold a tree-planting and conservation workshop at Descanso’s town hall. And on Feb. 13, it will hold another tree-planting day, with the goal of more than 400 trees.

The gold-spotted oak borer is a beetle that officials believe came from Mexico. Over the past seven years, officials say, it is responsible for killing thousands of California live oak, Canyon live oak and California black oak in an area that starts in Alpine and spreads east to Mount Laguna and north to Julian.