Richard Haug, an Irrigation Specialist for UCSB Grounds Maintenance/Facilities Management, was searching for a water leak between Ellison Hall and Cheadle Hall when he heard a loud cracking sound yesterday, April 3, shortly before 10 a.m. He inspected the seeming source, the trunk of one of the eight big Ficus trees in the plaza in front of Cheadle, and noticed a large crack that was beginning to expand. His quick action may have saved lives, insofar as about a ton of wood eventually crashed down in an area where several campus tours were being conducted at the time.
In the words of Jon Cook, Associate Director of Facilities and an expert in arboriculture, “The real story here is the quick thinking of Irrigation Specialist Richard Haug, who heard a suspicious cracking sound behind him when he was repairing irrigation south of the tree and inspected the trunk. He saw a vertical crack and immediately recognized what the situation was and began calling for reinforcements. Groundskeepers Emmer Ruano, Juan Donato, and Anthony Tanore all responded to assist Richard and cordoned the area off, and they were able to safely watch the branch fall off about 20 minutes after Richard heard the first sound. Grounds Superintendent Rai Calderon quickly called in a contractor to chip it up, as the tree was not salvageable after the large portion fell off.”
“The tree was actually a Ficus microcarpa ‘nitida’; the common name is Indian Laurel Fig. The cultivar name ‘nitida’ has no botanical standing and was attached to the tree when it was heavily marketed in southern California in the 1970s, supposedly to describe a weeping habitat that only some individuals of this species have and that is highly inconsistent. I imagine these trees were planted on our campus at about the same time. We have quite a few more on the north side of SAASB and Cheadle, as well as south of Ellison. We are currently planning to replace this one with the same species to maintain the consistent appearance of the area” (Ibid.).
Bruce Tiffney, Professor of Paleobotany in Earth Science and Dean, College of Creative Studies, commented: “The Laurel Fig is widely planted throughout the subtropics for its dense, dark green foliage and contrasting elegant gray trunk and branches. It is native to Sri Lanka, India and points east to northern Australia and New Caledonia. I am unaware of their having a tradition of shedding branches or breaking, although they do not have a particularly strong wood…There may have been a fault of some kind in the wood or other “pre-existing condition” that led to this failure.”
Article by Bill Norrington
