Controversial olive trees given a reprieve until spring

Beth Slovic

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

Fifty flowering olive trees that were ordered to be cut down were given a reprieve until spring by the Clark County Air Pollution Control Hearing Board.

If scientists can prove before January that the trees in question genetically match the low-pollinating wilsonii variety, one of two kinds that still can be planted in the county, the trees likely will not be chopped down, several board members said at the hearing.

In May, the Clark County Department of Air Quality Management ordered the Clark County School District and the Las Vegas Public Works to remove the olive trees around Leavitt Middle School on Quadrel Street and on Alta Drive between Rancho Drive and Valley View Boulevard after a resident, David Turner, complained they were the wrong kind.

Turner, who lives near the school on Quadrel Street and who owns a desert landscape nursery, said the trees were spewing pollen into the air and sprouting olives, which they weren't supposed to do.

The regulation on what kinds of olive trees can be planted in the county was drafted by the Health District in 1991 in an effort to curb the amount of pollen, a major allergen in the Las Vegas Valley, is released each spring. It states that only the wilsonii and Swan Hill varieties of olive trees from growers certified by the county to have the correct strain can be planted here.

Wilsonii and Swan Hill olive trees were genetically engineered to release significantly less pollen than traditional olive trees.

Representatives of the School District and the city said they thought they were getting the low-pollinating wilsonii variety. But because their contractors did not purchase the trees from county certified growers, no one knows for sure whether they are.

For nearly three hours Thursday representatives of the School District and Las Vegas testified before the board, asking them to spare the trees and taxpayers their money. If the trees are ordered removed, the public agencies may have to pay for the project.

Several members of the board expressed frustration over the regulation, which approves growers rather than varieties of olive trees, suggesting they would like to see lawmakers rewrite the rule.

Many landscapers and contractors operating in the county don't know they have to purchase olive trees only from certified growers, Jane Waldron, a plant broker from Arizona who supplied some of the trees in question, said at the hearing.

James Lavelle, the board's chairman, said his hands were tied and that he couldn't change the regulation.

"We don't make policy; all we can do is strongly suggest," Lavelle said. "But I really want us to have a criteria where the people of Clark County can say: 'You know it when you see it.' "

The School District and the city agreed to consult experts to determine if the trees are genetically wilsonii. If they are, the board may allow the trees to stay.