200-Year-Old Calabasas Oak Tree Gets 'Giant Monument' Inquiry From City Leaders

CALABASAS, CA — The tree is truly a magnificent sight. Its truck is as wide as an average human's height. It stretches four stories into the air with a 6,000-square-foot canopy. And city leaders estimate it first sprouted from an acorn decades before California even became a state and certainly before Calabasas was developed.

The approximately 200-year-old oak tree that serves as the centerpiece of a commercial plaza at 23556 Calabasas Road in Old Town has been the recent subject of a flurry of discussion among city officials who want to give the tree the recognition it deserves.

It's "something that in and of itself seems to be a giant monument," City Planner Tom Bartlett said at a recent Historic Preservation Commission Meeting. "The idea is to use the opportunity to portray, explain, inform persons about more than just the tree itself — what it really represents as something that's been there over a period of time, what it's 'witnessed,' per se."

The commission will meet again on Wednesday to discuss what that might look like. One front-running idea is installing an interpretive panel — like the ones seen at state parks and historic sites — that would serve as a graphical and written testament to the tree's life. Another possibility is seeking historical recognition from the state, which could be achieved due to the significance of the landscape to the indigenous inhabitants of the area, according to city documents.

The tree is a valley oak, a species native to California that's the largest of the North American oaks. The trees typically range from 30 to 75 feet in heigh with a trunk diameter of around 2 feet. They can live to be 500 years old, according to the USDA.

The 200-year-old Calabasas tree is estimated to be 60 to 65 feet tall with a girth of 5 1⁄2 feet.

While the tree is remarkable at its current age and size, if cared for it could grow to astonishing proportions. One valley oak in the Carmel Valley was measured at 138 feet tall and one in Butte County measured 9 feet in diameter, according to the USDA.

As a so-called heritage oak, the tree is subject to Calabasas' strictest arboreal protections: Modifications to any oak with a diameter of 2 feet or greater are subject to City Council approval, according to Bartlett.

The Historic Preservation Commission will discuss the tree at its meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, which will also be broadcast live online and on CTV.