Do you remember the winter of 1998? One particularly violent February storm sent a number of our mammoth trees crashing down on cars, houses, or the ground. Santa Margarita is home to many huge, old (or "overmature"), and largely neglected trees. Is it possible to predict which ones are likely to fall? Not with absolute certainty but you can use a checklist to evaluate a tree's hazard potential.

    On the morning of Saturday, November 18, people interested in learning to recognize tree hazards gathered at the Community Center. Thanks to local tree experts Jim Patterson and Peter Kinkade, participants went home with useful tips, a tree hazard evaluation checklist, and a UC Publication to use as a handy reference tool. The workshop was partially sponsored by the California ReLeaf 2000 Capacity-Building Grant Program. If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then this was a morning well spent!