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3 <br /> be planted with Douglas Firs Pseudotsuga menziesii and Oregon Oaks <br /> Ouercus garryana; the firs in the 800 foot median island, and (I <br /> assume) the oaks in the parking strip breaks. Dennis hopes to <br /> plant them in informal groupings appropriate to their habitat, but <br /> the constraints of the location make this impossible. The <br /> administrative rules require that no tree can be located within two <br /> feet of the street, and in the eight foot island there is only four <br /> feet of wiggle room. The finished planting can only be a four foot <br /> row of trees in an 800 foot line straight as a transit line- -a <br /> very un- native display. It is even worse with the parking strip <br /> breaks. Here the constraints are on all sides, leaving almost no <br /> wiggle room, which determines that this 800 -foot tree row will be <br /> rigidly straight, an unnatural presentation of native trees. <br /> The administrative rules distort the plantings still more. <br /> They require that the trees be headed up to one -third of their <br /> height as they grow, that they be headed up to nine feet, and that <br /> no branches under 16 feet extend beyond the curb. This means that <br /> the firs must be headed up to nine feet as soon as possible. Above <br /> that the North and South branches can grow normally, but the East <br /> and West branches must be aborted until they are above the 16 foot <br /> restriction. The resulting butchery will result in distorted <br /> specimens that will be ludicrous as representative native <br /> specimens. <br /> There is also another sobering consideration. Among conifers <br /> the Douglas fir is distinguished by its dense foliage which makes <br /> an impenetrable sail in the wind. In their native habitats these <br />