Arborists carried out selective pruning Thursday on a more than 100-year-old oak tree at the corner of Nipomo and Monterey streets in San Luis Obispo.
It is part of an effort to save the tree before construction begins on the new SLO Rep Theatre.
The San Luis Obispo City Council approved the tree’s removal in February, prompting community pushback. Now, the city is partnering with expert arborists in an attempt to relocate the tree, likely to the lawn at Mission Plaza.
Bob Hill, a Sustainability and Natural Resources official with the City of San Luis Obispo, said the rescue effort came together after volunteers stepped forward with a plan.
“A really phenomenal group of local experts and arborists approached us and really came forward with a hopeful vision that it’s possible that we may be able to save the tree,” Hill said.
Hill said the city did not believe moving the tree would be possible until tree biologist and Cal Poly professor Matt Ritter volunteered to lead the rescue project.
Ritter said similar relocations have been completed successfully before, but cautioned that a successful outcome is not guaranteed.
“I wanted to try it because I think that we have the possibility of doing it. The other option is the tree is guaranteed to be cut down and killed and die, so we might as well make an attempt,” Ritter said.
Hill echoed that sentiment.
“It may not work at all, but we are relying on good expertise here, and we believe that it can work,” Hill said.
San Luis Obispo residents Bruce Judson and his wife Joan, who have spoken out in favor of saving the tree, said they are both excited and cautiously optimistic about the plans.
Bruce Judson raised concerns about how the tree was handled during the early stages of the project’s design.
“The narrative says that the tree had been a priority, yet no arborist were called early in the design and they actually in the plans used the wrong sized tree,” he said.
I reached out to two people in leadership positions at SLO Rep Theatre asking for a response to suggestions that the tree was not prioritized enough in the early design process, but have not yet heard back.
SLO Rep’s initial plans, approved in 2019, did outline preserving the tree, and Hill maintained the tree has always been a priority.
“However, as SLO Rep got into preparing their final construction documents and coming into the city for a building permit was when we had a chance to look at an arborist report,” Hill said.
That arborist report, completed in 2025, concluded the tree likely would not survive construction.
Over the next few weeks, Ritter said he and his team will monitor the tree and will soon be able to determine whether it can survive the move.