A nonprofit group is proposing to build a viewing platform for an iconic Moreton Bay Fig tree in Balboa Park.
Friends of Balboa Park has raised $200,000 to put a 16-foot-wide raised platform around a quarter of the tree’s circumference — about 90 feet in length.
The big fig has been fenced off to the public since 1989, due to the once-poor health of its roots.
At more than 78 feet tall, it’s basically neck-and-neck with two other Moreton Bay Figs for the title of state champion.
Moreton Bay Fig in Balboa Park: Here’s the full story
An icon of Balboa Park — a massive Moreton Bay Fig tree planted in 1914 — may soon get a viewing platform worthy of its shady splendor.
The nonprofit group Friends of Balboa Park is proposing to pay for a raised visitor’s walkway around the tree, which has been fenced off to the public since 1989.
Many longtime San Diegans remember climbing around the roots of this tree as children. But those good times had a cost.
The fig’s health suffered from the foot traffic. Park officials erected a waist-high fence that keeps visitors about 65 feet away from the tree’s base.
The Friends group has raised $200,000 to put a 16-foot-wide raised platform around a quarter of the tree’s circumference — about 90 feet in length. The structure would bring visitors closer to the dramatic root structure that makes the fig so eye-catching.
“Looking at that chain-link fence, we said, ‘This is not becoming of Balboa Park,’” said John Bolthouse, Friends of Balboa Park executive director.
“We want to reintroduce people to the tree by allowing people to get closer to it.”
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http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/san-diego/sd-me-balboa-park-moreton-bay-fig-platform-20180201-story.html
