In 2018, the City Hall of Santa Cruz proceeded to cut down one of the centennial Indian laurels located in front of the Navy Command. The tree was sick, and given the possibility that the fall of branches or the specimen itself would cause greater harm, he decided to cut it down. The rest of the trees in the area, although they are still standing, the truth is that they have lost vitality, for various reasons, and that, according to the study carried out by the city’s Parks and Gardens service, they do not seem to be recoverable.
Given this situation, from this same service, which is located within the Public Services area, a project has been proposed for the rehabilitation of this area of the city with the replacement of the existing specimens, along with the palm trees and bushes, for others new ones, and, at the same time, take the opportunity to reorganize traffic at the confluence of Francisco La Roche Avenue and Rambla de Santa Cruz. In this way, the removal of 15 specimens of Indian laurels is projected, including the stump of the tree that had to be felled in 2018, and nine palm trees. The project foresees the replacement of 11 of the laurels and all of the palm trees.
As stated in the basic project, which has already been put out to tender for just over 380,000 euros, the Parks and Gardens Bureau has been confirming the decline that some of the Indian laurels that populate the municipality are suffering. However, the area most affected is the one located precisely at the confluence between Rambla de Santa Cruz and Avenida de Anaga. “The landscape of the aforementioned area is so bleak that the Public Services Management and Control Technical Service has decided to commission a project that completely rehabilitates this area of the city,” it says.
Prior to the drafting of the project, “it has been considered very important to carry out an in-depth study of the trees located in said area, and some others from other areas that have begun to show symptoms of decay in order to understand the factors that are affecting the trees and consequently adopt the measures that are going to be necessary”, is detailed in the project.
It is noted that in the intersection island that forms the Rambla de Santa Cruz with Francisco La Roche Avenue (at the height of the Marina Command), actions are being carried out by the municipal services on several specimens of laurels of the Indies (Ficus microcarpa), of large dimensions, due to their decay. “This is evidenced by a very clear loss of leaf mass, death of some of its structures and/or death of some specimens. Even with felling and removal of one of them in May 2018”.
As stated in the project, “it becomes clear, therefore, that the appropriate action is to remove these “tree corpses” from this space and plant new specimens.”
Given the scope of the action, the Public Services Management and Control Technical Service considers it appropriate that it be used to remodel and improve the conditions of the islets, adapting them, in addition, to future conditions that are included in the planning.
Therefore, the project now in tender has as its object the rehabilitation and superficial remodeling of the islets located at the confluence of La Rambla de Santa Cruz with Avenida Francisco La Roche, improving accessibility and traffic in the area, both pedestrian and vehicle. , ordering the space and including new pedestrian pavements, the replacement of the irrigation network and the planting of new gardening in the flowerbeds and interior pits.
As detailed by the Councilor for Public Services, Carlos Tarife, “those laurels are going to be replaced and the area is going to be made passable for pedestrians, which is the same thing that we are doing a little higher, at the height of the barracks of Almeida”. “The objective -continues the mayor- is that people can continue walking along the boulevard through that pedestrian crossing or join Residencial Anaga”.
Tarife explains that, after the work, “it will remain a walkable area in such a way that the Rambla will have greater continuity for pedestrians, without having to deviate.”
These works to give pedestrian continuity to the Rambla will continue to be carried out in the coming months. “While waiting to see what we do with the section of Avenida 25 de Julio, which is the most complicated, the next one we have in mind to fix is the section of the confluence of Avenida Belgium with San Sebastián, so, from here in a couple of months, another work will begin to make that roundabout passable”.
Among the justifications included in the project to intervene in the confluence of the Ramblas and Francisco La Roche, it is detailed that, at present, “it presents a totally gloomy appearance due to the gradual loss of foliar mass of the ancient trees of this space, until such a point that, at present, this area has completely lost its essence as the beginning of the central artery that crosses the urban development of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife”.
arboriculture study
From the study entitled Report on various specimens of Ficus nitida from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in relation to this area in particular, it is pointed out that these are trees that have had a very high weakening in the last 6-8 years, and that they currently had a regression without expectations of very aggressive recovery and associated with the presence of fungi.
Based on this conclusion, it is contemplated to proceed with the stump removal and uprooting of the base and felling of the plant remains of the specimens of Indian laurel (Ficus nitida) located within the garden area of the islet of the Comandancia de Marina in the Rambla de Santa Cruz.
In the same way, it will proceed with the units located in the central parking separation island of the Dr. Pablos Abril square and the units located at its confluence with the Rambla de Santa Cruz.
Similarly, we will proceed with the existing palm trees on the main island in front of the Comandancia, always following what is prescribed in the project and the indications of the Works Management and the Parks and Gardens Bureau.
In this way, 15 Indian laurels, 9 kentia palm trees, and 524 square meters of carpet and shrubs will be removed.
The City Council project plans to replace 11 laurels and the nine palm trees that are going to be removed, in addition to placing perimeter hedges on the different islands.
