By Peter Albert, DTNA President

A while back there was a big civic debate about what trees are "right" for San Francisco. There was the pro-palm and anti-palm contingents, but the debate was really more about the identity of San Francisco than the virtues of any one tree.

I think the roots of the anti-palm movement lay in the very urgent desire to distinguish this City from anything that resembles Los Angeles. Then there is the camp that feels we have more in common with LA when it comes to climate than we do to, say. New York, and embracing a tree from the Eastern Seaboard cities is just as artificial as pretending this is the subtropics.

San Francisco didn't really have much in the way of trees when it was a mission outpost. Some scrubby willows lined the few creeks, and oak, sycamore, cherry and laurel clumps grew where sheltered from the wind, but this was basically a sand-dune town. The trees we have today are as diverse as our people: sweet gums from the South, ginkoes from Asia, maytens from Chile, the New Zealand Christmas tree, olives, figs, plums and the Canary Island Palms from the Mediterranean, and of course, the eucalypti from Australia.

I would personally favor highlighting on our streets what makes the Bay Area distinct: the juncture of the rainy-cool marine Northwest and the sunny, dry south coast. There are the oaks and laurels, of course, but also big-leaf maple, tanoak, cottonwood, box-elder, bitter cherry and dogwood, Monterey pine & cypress, and redwoods. When a particular native tree won't thrive well on an urban street, a close and hardier relative could represent the family.

If streets are like rivers, then street trees can offer the same shady, lacy green hues and autumn tints that line our nearby creeks. Native birds and butterflies would feel right at home in the City. Fostering an awareness of what naturally surrounds us can only help impart greater sensitivity to how we manage the region's parks and open space.

If you are in Marin, the Berkeley Hills or on the Peninsula and you see a tree growing naturally that recalls one in our neck of the woods, try to figure out what it is. I read an account of a Japanese landscaper in Sonoma mimicking a traditional garden by using our own vine maple for the usual Japanese variety, blossoming bitter cherries and Bishop pine for the bonsai evergreen. I have no doubt it is spectacular.