By Jorge Casuso

August 5, 2026 -- More than half of San Vicente Boulevard's remaining coral trees are in "poor condition," and the City is racing to save the dwindling population plagued by two pests and the lack of water.

Courtesy of NOMA

The San Vicente corridor -- which has historically had 166 trees -- has lost 32 trees in recent months and another 13 dead trees are scheduled to be removed this month, City Manager Oliver Chi informed the Council in a July 27 memo.

That leaves the scenic boulevard on Santa Monica's upscale north side with 121 living trees, half of which are in "poor condition." While "the overall situation is stabilizing," Chi wrote, "there are real impacts happening to the trees."

"Our team is hopeful that restored water and focused attention will bring some of them back, however, we will likely still need to remove additional trees that don’t recover," Chi wrote.

To halt the demise, a contractor has been hand watering the trees and Public Works has been repairing the irrigation systems. "Eighty percent of the tree irrigation and 40 percent of the grass irrigation systems are now functional, with full restoration expected within the next few weeks," Chi reported.

City officials have not explained why the irrigation systems were not maintained and local residents have complained the trees had not been watered as they had been in the past.

Crews have also been aggressively pruning the coral trees monthly, a tactic that Chi said has worked in Tongva Park, while staff has been surveying nurseries for more pest-resistant coral tree varieties and working with arborist consultants to evaluate treatment options.

The two culprit pests are the Erythrina stem borer (ESB) , which "has been especially devastating to young coral trees and has undermined replanting efforts region-wide," and the invasive shot hole borer (ISHB).

The later is "particularly concerning because it can use coral trees as an 'amplifier' host to attack other tree species nearby," Chi said.

As the Public Works team addresses "the immediate issues," it is also "looking at the current circumstances as an opportunity for us to meaningfully increase our tree canopy’s density and diversity," Chi wrote.

"To that end, staff is assessing if we should consider redesigning San Vicente as more than just a road median, and we’re working to develop some preliminary design options that will be used to help facilitate community outreach efforts.:

Public Works team will provide an update and discuss its efforts to restore the tree canopy at the North of Montana Association (NOMA) meeting Thursday.

The status of the coral trees along San Vicente boulevard became a major cause of concern for area residents after City officials issued a report that indicated one of the trees had "suffered a complete failure" on the Fourth of July.

"In light of this recent failure and the explicit safety findings in the arborist's report, the City must move forward with removing the remaining 12 trees detailed in the report, alongside four smaller trees that were part of the original assessment," City officials said in a statement to NOMA last month.

Officials issued a subsequent statement to the press. "This is an issue being observed across the region, and the city is working in coordination with other cities to figure out what's contributing to the decline of this tree species," the statement said.

"The city will use the information from the report to inform a sustainable, long-term approach that preserves Santa Monica's urban forest, enhances the city's beautiful landscape, and supports the more than 36,000 trees in the city's public spaces.

"We share the concerns of the neighbors about our urban forest and have been in regular communication with them about our efforts, and will meet with them on August 6 to share more information."