Health of The Tree and Conservation
In 1776, the tree was measured at 135.7-feet with a circumference of 15.1-feet. In 1814, measurement found a height of 162.2 feet. However, from 1865–1955, the tree's health was in decline exhibiting sparse branching and foliage. In 1926, fearing loss of the tree, a bronze plaque commemorating the tree was set in a granite boulder by the local Native Sons of the Golden West. In 1951 its height was 134.6 feet, in 1977 its height was reduced to 126 feet to remove the dead top, and again in 1999 where it still stands at nearly 110 feet in height. Causes of the tree's decline have been attributed to coal-burning train soot and lowering of the water table by nearby orchard wells, including the 1912 Tower Well only two blocks away. By the 1960s, the water table was so low that salt water was intruding into nearby wells and Peninsula cities like Palo Alto switched to getting their water from the Hetch Hetchy system. El Palo Alto was unable to access the lowered groundwater as redwoods are typically shallow rooted. By the mid-1960s the tree was in severe decline, leading to successive dying off of the treetop until the water table began to recover in the late 1990s. Efforts to restore the tree's health by the Southern Pacific Railroad, the City of Palo Alto and local citizens included progressive pruning off of the dying treetop, addition of soil and mulch at the tree’s base, removal of dead limbs, pesticide spraying and installation of a pipe up its trunk to bring water to the top of the tree. Although the tree stands today at only 68% of its former stature, it enjoys greater health than nearly a century ago.
A 1999 horticultural appraisal of El Palo Alto, conducted in accordance with the Guide for Plant Appraisal authored by the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers and published by the International Society of Arboriculture, valued the tree at $55,600.00.
In 2004, seedlings from El Palo Alto were planted in the American Forests Historic Tree Nursery in Jacksonville, Florida.
The tree was spray-painted with graffiti in August 2010, but was subsequently cleaned.
Read more about this topic: El Palo Alto
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