Fairview Park Tree Planting

Those who have been reading our Blog know that one of our hobbies is building and flying kites. We belong to a kite club in our home town of Costa Mesa California called The Goat Hill Gang, so named because our flying field in Fairview Park was used by goat herders back in the day before there was a city. Fairview is popular with kite flyers from all over area because it is the only park with good wind and ample open space.

The club is often invited to participate in city-sponsored park activities. Event organizers have said they like the color and interest our kites and banners add. We enjoy doing it as a way of giving something back to the community.

On Saturday April 28 we were invited for a community clean-up event at the park. When we arrived early that morning we were shocked to find a large group of city employees and volunteers nearing completion of planting 30 to 40 trees in the field that has always been used for kite flying. We had heard nothing about this and apparently neither had the Friends of Fairview Park, the group that extended the invitation to us.

We had brought out a radio-controlled camera suspended from a helium balloon (above) and used it to document the event.

Update: A couple of weeks after this event some of the Goat Hill Gang met with people from the Parks and Recreation Department and negotiated relocation of several of the new trees. Our flying field is now fairly free of obstructions. Some of the remaining trees may partially block the wind when they mature but for the next few years at least we should be able to continue flying at this location.

---

The photo above shows the view from 150' above the kite flying area, looking north toward the park entrance. The crew has finished with the trees and is working on the planter beds flanking the park entrance.

The area in front of the banners, between the parking lot and Placentia Avenue, is the up-wind side of the kite flying field. Numerous newly planted kite-eating trees now occupy the area. We do not comprehend the concept of planting trees on a kite field. Hasn't anyone in the Parks and Recreation Department read the Charlie Brown comic strip?

On the North of the flying area new trees along the upwind side will block the wind when they mature.

South toward the High School there are more trees, but these are pretty much out of the way.

After some on-site discussion with the planting people they agreed to remove five trees from the middle of the field. That helped considerably but there are still problems. We are establishing contacts with City Hall and are hopeful there will be further negotiations to work something out.

Meanwhile the Balloon Aerial Photography rig worked well. The photo above show Rod Milburn (in the white hat) taking a picture of the BAP camera taking a picture of him.

---