Director's Report - March 2007
Who cares when giant, old growth oaks are cut or bulldozed?
By: John Buckley, CSERC Executive Direcotor
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On March 6th, CSERC ran a full-page color ad in the local newspaper to try to inform readers about a major threat to oaks in Tuolumne County. The ad was triggered by the recent destruction of a beautiful stand of old growth oaks in an area east of Sonora.
In Tuolumne County, most development projects go through a careful review by the County’s planning staff, as well as the County planning commission. In almost all cases where large, old growth oaks are proposed to be cut down or bulldozed, Tuolumne County either requires the developer to re-design his project to avoid the “heritage” oak or, if he chooses to cut it down, then he usually must plant oaks, help protect oaks someplace else, or pay into a mitigation fund. |
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To the surprise of many developers, it turns out that protecting giant oaks ends up producing a development project that is more attractive to customers or buyers, plus it benefits the songbirds, hawks, squirrels, or other wildlife species that take advantage of the oak’s acorns, branches, shelter, leaves, and cavities. Admittedly, most developers have chosen to do the minimum amount necessary to protect oaks on their project sites, but at least they have implemented some mitigation measures to help compensate for the environmental impacts when giant oaks are removed.
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Unfortunately, there is a loophole in Tuolumne County’s current policies. If a shrewd developer cuts down the trees before actually submitting his or her plans to the County for approval, there is currently no mandatory penalty. So, in some cases a developer can wipe out the stand of oaks or the scattered giant heritage oak trees that would otherwise trigger some protection – and then submit the project plans. When the project site is visited by planning staff, there are no longer old growth oaks to save.
In one property near Sonora, the owners of a property chose to pay a crew to cut down many, many impressive oaks. Some of them were towering Valley oaks, a kind of oak that has nearly disappeared from much of Tuolumne County due to so much human disturbance and development.
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CSERC received numerous calls from alarmed neighbors of the property. I rushed down to the site and walked up to the manager of the clearing crew. He admitted they were planning to cut all the trees. Even more, he admitted that there was a plan to grade the site flat, create a retaining wall along the creek, and then to construct buildings on the site. With that information, I knew immediately that the owners of the site had what is known as a “project” as defined by State law. I contacted County planners, who immediately attempted to contact the property owners to alert them to the fact that no oaks should be removed until an environmental review process led to project approval. When contacted, the property owners reportedly denied there was any specific project in the works, and they apparently told a newspaper reporter they were just cleaning up the property and reducing fire risk.
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Without an official project, the clearing of the oaks fell into the loophole category. So, over the rest of that day and for two following days, one oak after another was cut down, limbed, chopped up, and left lying on the ground. Oaks hundreds of years old were wiped out as workers in a neighboring building suffered through the spectacle.
The following week, during a County fieldtrip set up to look at oak issues, the tour ended at a project site only a few blocks away from the cleared property. I alerted a number of the County officials, planning commissioners, and members of the public to the tragic clearing of the oaks. I urged the tour bus riders to request to stop at the property to see for themselves. Minutes later, a large number of important and influential folks stared at the stumps, the fallen trees, and the scattered debris across the site. For many of them, this an eye-opening experience that helped them to understand the need to close the loophole in the County’s oak protection policies.
At this time, CSERC is one of the leading forces engaged in trying to get the County to adopt an Oak Mitigation Plan that will provide stronger, clearer oak protection than has been required for past development projects. The Plan is going through many, many meetings and chances for public input, but the goal is to have a plan in front of the County board of supervisors within a couple of months.
No matter how good a mitigation plan may be, it still doesn’t equal protecting giant heritage oaks in the first place. CSERC staff is working hard to ensure that the new Plan provides a lot of pressure on developers to design their projects to avoid the removal of any ancient oaks on their project site. If we are successful, each giant oak that is spared will be a benefit to migratory songbirds, many local wildlife species, and all the people who get to enjoy the scenic beauty of these heritage trees. |
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CSERC | PO Box 396 | Twain Harte, CA 95383 | (209) 586-7440 | info@cserc.org
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