Cottonwood Tree - Santee, CA

We were sitting in the RV enjoying the A/C as the temperatures are in the low 80s. There was a small breeze but not enough to cool us. Ah, Spring in the Lower 48!!! Anyway, suddenly we heard a swooshing noise and tree limbs/branches floated down to the back right of our rig. The cottonwood tree on the site next to us decided to shed a “branch”. From the size of the “branch” (about 12 inches in diameter), we aren’t sure that is the correct term.

Anyway, the branches fell on to the gazebo and surrounded his lawn chairs but the RV and extended awning were untouched. Talk about lucky. He, the neighbor that is, was out of town for the week-end and missed the entire event. The park crew came by and removed the debris. They said that this is a common occurrence for Cottonwood trees. It seems the various climate effects (drought, flooding, etc.) cause these “branches” to just drop off of the trees. It has happened to other trees in the park before. The “branch” looked healthy with lots of smaller branches and green leaves all ready for summer. The core of the branch was dried out and hollow about 2-3 inches diameter.

So, we are now looking at our site and wondering. The park staff said that the California Sycamore that we sit under doesn’t do that exactly but it does drop small branches (1/4 to ½ inch diameter) like leaves all year long - interesting trees here in the Lower 48. There’s even an evergreen that doesn’t appear to be a fir or pine. Ruthi hasn’t figured it out yet but it stayed green all winter and dropped no leaves. Well, that’s for another posting.