Around the 6” of rain earlier this week brought predictable mudslides and a downed tree just north of the mudslide on the Lake View Ave side of Red Car Canyon. This slope is Red Car Property up to the fence line. There are public utility easements along the property line.
The Red Car Property owner chopped down all the young trees on this slope and throughout the property without regard to size or species. There were a number of young protected Coast Live Oak and California Black Walnut trees that managed to recover from the 2016 fire. While this slope did not burn it was severely damaged by the heat.
Most of the shrub-like plants in the above photo are remnants of trees that keep trying grow back every year after brush clearance. I speculate the total disregard for hillside ecosystems is intentional, as it is common developer tactic to kill off as many trees as possible through neglect or removal in advance of development application.
In recent years, City contractors replaced sewer lines in the slope along the property line between the Red Car Property and homes above on Lake View.
In 2009 the Red Car Property owner repaired a 2005 landslide on the Adelbert end of the Red Car Property.
It is a very steep slope cut for the Red Car Trolley in 1904. Since the tracks were removed in 1955, a forest of trees repopulated the slope.
