Arcadia Woodlands Again

The devastation of Arcadia Woodlands cannot be forgotten: over 200 ancient Native Oaks and Sycamore trees, not to mention the wildlife, lost forever for a load of mud. I previously wrote of how an "umbrella" group was emerging from the destruction. This has now been named Urbanwild Network, a network to enable all environmentalists to help each other in times of crisis and to create a powerful force to make people aware of the magnitude of what is happening to our land.

Learning that two of the four Arcadia Tree sitters, John Quigley and Julia Jaye Posin, were appearing for Arraignment at Alhambra Superior Court, I joined members of this new group to support them. This group included some Santa Monica Treesavers who- apart from being totally shocked by this needless carnage- feel a debt of gratitude to John Quigley, who tirelessly helped to train us during our Ficus Tree emergency. Julia Posin, as a young College student, became a Treesaver at this time, so it was great to see her continuing her battle.

Here are John Quigley and Julia Posin outside the Courthouse:


And here they are together with some supporters and their Attorney Colleen Flynn, left of John. To her left is Camron Stone, a prime mover in trying to save the Woodlands, who has provided us with wonderful photos of them:


They are facing charges of trespassing, disturbing the peace and delaying a peace officer. The arraignment was in fact postponed until March 23rd, when all four activists will need to sign a conflict of interest waiver so that they can be tried as a group.

And all they did was to try and protect us all by protecting our environment...

They have set up a website to keep us informed- click here.

We all feel the importance of keeping the momentum going- making it a worldwide issue, because it IS a worldwide issue, destruction of our wildlands and our invaluable, irreplaceable tree canopies throughout the world.

Just to remind you of what we have lost, two photos- "after and before"- by Camron Stone.



For Camron Stone's full collection click here.

And to experience the full horror of this unbelievable act from one of the Tree sitters, Andrea Bowers', point of view, watch her video here:

Arcadia Woodlands Follow-up

Here's a visual reminder- from Terry Miller's article and photos in the Arcadia Weekly- of what happened to the Arcadia Woodlands:



Further to my last post regarding their needless destruction, there have been some exciting consequences. There was an enormous emotional response not only in Arcadia but in other cities. This resulted in the activists who had been fighting to save the invaluable woodland realizing that if this energy could be harnessed something magically positive could grow from the tragedy. So today they organized a meeting, held in Eaton Canyon Natural Area County Park, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Pasadena.

Together with a group of fellow Santa Monica Treesavers I participated in this meeting. The general idea- still to be finalized- is to set up a kind of "umbrella" group, enabling all the diverse like-minded groups and individuals to pool resources and help each other. Thus we would become a more knowledgeable, empowered force.

During the meeting we heard many moving stories from the speaker's of their tireless efforts to protect this land. It was good to hear of the experiences of one of the young tree sitters- Julia Posin- who had joined Treesavers as a student at Santa Monica College, when we were being trained by John Quigley to defend our Downtown Ficus trees.

Following this energising meeting, unfortunately we only had a short time to see something of Eaton Canyon- but it was delightful enough to make one want to return there. I will show a few images of what caught my eye, starting with a Native Oak- similar to those of the lost Woodlands:


And here is the remains of one that has rotted away but can still maintain a bunch of foliage:



On closer examination, I was fascinated by the intricate patterns that had formed in the decayed trunk:




Walking by the clear water of a mountain stream, here were yet more patterns:



Let's hope- figuratively speaking- that something wonderful grows from the acorns of those felled oaks...

Arcadia Woodlands Massacred

Here we are in Southern California, supposedly one of the most ecologically aware States in the US, and here yet again we see mindless, pointless destruction of life enhancing trees.

Arcadia Woodlands- in the wash of the San Gabriel Mountains- has been described as a Paradise, with its up till now unspoilt area of ancient native Coastal Oaks and Sycamores, providing shelter for a multitude of wildlife apart from its environmental and aesthetic benefits to human beings. Because of its proximity to the Santa Anita reservoir, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works has decided to destroy 179 Coastal Oaks and 70 Sycamores to accommodate 500.000 cubic yards of waste dredged from the reservoir. Apparently other locations have been available but for some reason- presumably, as always, based on money- this idyllic, 11 acre woodland has been chosen.

Credit: Mark Boster/ Los Angeles Times

Credit: Camron Stone
Click to see his album

Protesters have been working hard to peacefully save the trees, but today were ignored as the DPW's contractors moved in to bulldoze them down. Renowned tree activist John Quigley (who trained Santa Monica Treesavers in our efforts to save the Ficus trees in Downtown Santa Monica in 2008/9) was sitting in one of the Oaks at 4am, together with three other protesters in three other trees, but they were taken into custody at 8pm.

Self-portrait John Quigley, on limb of Oak in Arcadia. Credit: John Quigley

Daryl Hannah- another tree activist- came to show solidarity. Representatives of the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club also showed their support.

By nightfall today (Wednesday January 12th) about 90% of the woodlands were reduced to the aftermath of a battlefield.

I find this so hard to comprehend. We all- from schoolchildren to seniors- are constantly made aware of the necessity for trees in our fragile, collapsing ecosystem, so how can all this knowledge be ignored? Aside from the wonderful benefits of trees, how can we show them so little respect? Trees are living beings; scientists have proved how they actually react to pain and interact with each other when in crisis. I am more and more confused why humans should disregard the rights and importance of other forms of life, just because we are in a position to dominate them. Misused power is very frightening.

Today I regretted not being in Arcadia to show my support. I was in a pre-arranged meeting in Santa Monica City Hall between fellow Treesavers and Rod Gould, Santa Monica's new City Manager, who is commendably prepared to listen to Treesavers' concerns about our Urban Forest. Let's hope that by us maintaining a dialogue and co-operating with the City and with the Urban Forest Task Force we can help to create a better understanding of the value of trees within the whole community- including politicians .

To see what we have heartbreakingly lost in Arcadia, click on this link for Kevin Breckner of Time River Productions' recent video of the Arcadia Woodlands, filmed in spite of intimidation from guards.

Los Angeles Times report