Tree sitters in Arcadia remain defiant [updated]

John Quigley, one of the tree sitters perched in a grove of oaks and sycamores being torn down by county workers in Arcadia on Wednesday morning, said he would remain in his oak tree until work ceases.

"They've eased off the destruction," he said by cellphone at 10:15 a.m. "I can see broken tree trunks and piles of debris below. They were toppling a nearby sycamore. I yelled and they stopped. As long as I'm up here, they will not cut down this tree."

Quigley added that supporters were sending out alerts to attend a candlelight vigil at the entrance scheduled for early Wednesday evening.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works is removing 179 coastal oaks and 70 sycamores in the wash in the San Gabriel Mountains just below Santa Anita reservoir, to make way for muck being dredged from behind a nearby reservoir.

Perched in a fire-stripped canyon, the 83-year-old reservoir is a critical component of the county's aging flood-control system and is used to recharge underground aquifers that the cities of Sierra Madre and Arcadia rely on for drinking water. Last dredged in 1993, the reservoir currently operates at reduced capacity because it could not otherwise meet state seismic standards, county authorities said.

The grove, known locally as Arcadia Woodlands, is on L.A. County Public Works property near Santa Anita and Elkin avenues, where protesters and residents have gathered.

A 30-day moratorium imposed in December by County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, to study alternative to razing the trees, expired earlier this month. Public-works officials concluded that their original plan was the best resort. 

[Updated, 12:05 p.m.: Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. Joe Fennell said, "We're in the process of negotiating and hopefully they will come down peacefully from the trees."

Failing that, Fennell said, law enforcement wouild issue a dispersal order and file trespassing charges against the four tree sitters, including Quigley.

"We are prepared to be here for the long haul," Fennell said. "One of our big concerns is that there are wild animals in this region, particularly bears. So, we will have sheriff's personnel here through the night to protect the protesters."

Bob Spencer, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, said he expected the trees to be cleared within two days. "The wood will stay on site. It will be chipped and used as ground cover. Some of the stumps will be left to rot as part of the natural decaying process."

Spencer said the chipped wood and rotted stumps will eventually be deposited elsewhere in the area to improve soil conditions.

David Czemanske, a member of the executive committee of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, said of the recycling plan: "How am I supposed to be satisfied with such a trivial mitigation as that?"]

-- Louis Sahagun

Photos, from top: John Quigley in a self-portrait Wednesday morning on an oak limb in Arcadia. Credit: John Quigley. The grove pictured last month. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Bobby Dias]

Wrong copy and paste of prior post of mine(That copy and paste went to CNN in an insite message). This is what I sent to the LA County DA:
In about 1958, I planted the seeds for the trees and bushes in what is called the Arcadia Woodlands and gave the seeds for the small plants and grass to two elderly women and an elderly man, the three strew the seeds I gave them seeds for the small plants there in the Arcadia Woodlands, that I did with the oral understanding with the Flood Control District that: 1. I would keep the ownership of the seeds and plants that grew from them and 2. the Flood Control District would some day dig them all up to store sediment from one or more flood control dams.
Immediately prior to my and the others planting the seeds there was only barren ground, not even the flat grass normal for the foothills at that time. Any statement by anybody of there being any plant life there prior to us planting those seeds is entirely false.

[tammy]

Residents should sue on grounds of decrease property value, decreased value of life. Trees clean the air and that is so important near LA. For the health of your family and new children, fight for those trees. Plus the people down stream of the grove will have their property in danger of land slide.
Sue sue sue...

[2cents]

perfect place for these nuts - in a tree

[Robben F]

Trees are a completely renewable resource. This clown is costing tax payers dollars and using up valuable resources, at a time when schools are hurting and budgets are being cut. And, let's get real about this; the only reason for this is Quigley's moral vanity. Narcissism, essentially.

And Chemanske states "How am I supposed to be satisfied with such a trivial mitigation as that?" Who cares if you're satisfied? This has nothing to do with you being satisfied, as you have not been elected to represent anyone. You are a single citizen, nothing more. Just like the muttering bum, walking down the street and spastically screaming at himself. The city, county, state, and country do not require your satisfaction to operate. Though I have to say, by the sound of it, your ego needs to be put in-check.

Chop it down and watch Quigley fall. We could do a pool, where various body parts are listed, and can be purchased, with 50% of the pot going to the winner who chooses which body part(s) affected. The other 50% could go to pay for all the increased public and taxpayer expense, caused by a very childish man, with very, very large, outsized head and ego. And, if Quigley dies of injuries sustained by his own stupidity, so much the better, as we're thinning the human herd of yet another fool.

[Nathan]

It is a California State code violation to remove Live Oaks, they are protected trees.
The ignorant people with the LA public works department need to be slapped with a heft fine.

[Poucette]

Sheriff's Capt. Joe Fennell said "One of our big concerns is that there are wild animals in this region, particularly bears."

And just where are those wild animals supposed to go once their habitat is destroyed? Will they be destroyed, too?

[Joe Lockwood]

I don't consider myself an Enviromentalist but in this instance I fully support the tree sitter protesters-Hang in there guys! |I hope other protesters will join them or at least offer moral support from nearby.

[Barney Knob]

Trees are not immortal

[Dave9]

I am curious about something Joe: what does your employer think of you troll-posting on blogs while at work? What's that you say - you're unemployed, pay no taxes and thus sit at home posting idiotic comments on blogs? That's what I thought.

[Joe]

I am curious about something: what does this guy's employer think of him missing all these days of work? What's that you say - he's unemployed, pays no taxes and thus has no right to an opinion about anything? That's what I thought.

[jay]

Way to go John

[SmartAssProducts.com]

This is shameful. When will we as a society respect our environment? The 100 year old trees that are being bulldozed cannot be replaced overnight. There MUST be a different, better option.

[Catherine Ruane]

Stay in the tree John Quigley. You are my hero!!!!!!

[mike m]

No one has mentioned the fact that the county never loses a law suit due to our corrupt court system...The county big wigs walk and work around that wash as if they were kings of the world...Years ago my son put a bale of hay under a tree in the wash to shoot his arrows at. The county came and removed it with no explanation...The bale was hidden from sight and not bothering anyone....An old lady drained her pond into the wash once and the county jerks came by and cut her hose and wired it up so she couldn't get it undone.An old lady being picked on....It's a wash for god's sake. The county is full of obnoxious bloated ditchdiggers who have been given titles and now think they can do whatever they want...They probably misjudged how much space they needed for the silt in the first place and now are trying to pull a fast one....