Urban tree news: Pittsburgh’s master plan, San Francisco street trees on their own, and the eucalopalypse

There’s some big news about urban forestry coming out of Pittsburgh and San Francisco over the past two weeks.

• An organization called Tree Pittsburgh is at work on that city’s first ever Urban Forest Master Plan, and is now soliciting public input. Since a majority of the city’s trees are privately owned, public buy-in will critical.
• As of last week, San Francisco’s Department of Public Works is no longer responsible for the city’s 23,000 street trees. Their maintenance and upkeep costs are now up to local residents.
• And also in San Francisco, the long-simmering battle over the fate of the thousands of non-native, invasive eucalyptus trees is heating up. What’s a tree-hugger to do when entire regions become taken over by trees with low value for native wildlife species?

Thanks, by the way, to Georgia Silvera Seamans at the local ecologist blog for sending these (and many other recent links) my way.

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Guess this tree

Robin Andrea at Dharma Bums says,

I took this ridiculous photo of myself holding these two cones. It’s a crazy self-portrait with reflections of my laptop on my glasses, but I wanted to convey the size. I named these two Ego and Id because they’re bigger than my head!

They’re from a species famous for possessing the longest cones of any conifer — and for producing the largest trees in the pine genus. Think you know what it is? Leave your guess in the comments here if you’re feeling bold. But one way or another, be sure to click through and find out.

Fall colors still at their height in Berkeley, California

Check out landscape designer Robert Trachtenberg’s photo essay at Berkleyside.com: “Spectacular fall colors on view for all in Berkeley” — a useful reminder for those of us in colder, drearier climes that autumn is not yet over.