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Ancient Arcadia Grove Cleared Despite Tree-Sitting Protest

ARCADIA (AP) — Public works crews pulled up stumps Thursday amid toppled oak and sycamore trees following the arrests of four tree sitters who hoped to prevent the grove from becoming a dumpsite for tons of sediment dredged from behind a dam.

The morning after an unsuccessful attempt by environmentalists to stop the project, splintered branches and trunks lay on the ground as back hoes ripped away at remnants of the grove in a now-vacant area bordered on two sides by still-standing lines of trees.

"They're pulling out the material that remains," Los Angeles County Public Works spokesman Bob Spencer said as a back hoe noisily dug up a tree stump a few feet away. "It will be mulched right on site."

Two men, including veteran tree-sitter John Quigley, and two women were escorted out of the trees Wednesday night and taken into custody, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Julio Salcido said. They were booked on suspicion of delaying a peace officer and trespassing, he said.

Spencer said sheriff's deputies using a cheery picker spoke directly to the four and persuaded them to come down.

"They went peacefully," Spencer said. "They came down voluntarily and were handcuffed."

Earlier Wednesday, with the sounds of bulldozers echoing beneath him, Quigley perched in a century-old oak in the foothills above this Los Angeles suburb.

"They're destroying trees all around us," Quigley said by cell phone. "It's a sad scene and definitely something that didn't need to happen."

Public works officials say the 11 acres of trees, some of them more than 100 years old, had to go to ensure the integrity of a nearby dam that is critical for flood control and also recharges aquifers that supply all the drinking water for the Los Angeles suburb of Sierra Madre and 75 percent for neighboring Arcadia.

Shortly before Quigley and the others were arrested, about three dozen protesters, including actress Daryl Hannah, gathered at a gate leading to the area to hold a candlelight vigil.

"They don't need to tear down an eco system with trees over 100 years old," said Hannah, who learned of the protest through Quigley. She added that dam sediment could have been hauled to gravel pits 10 miles away.

Spencer said Thursday that public works officials had indeed looked into that possibility, but it would have required hauling 50,000 dump-truck loads of sediment through Arcadia, an upscale community of about 56,000 people.

"The city said no," he said.

Public Works officials say the project is necessary to ensure that the Santa Anita Dam, built in 1927, meets seismic safety standards.

Over the years, Spencer said, sediment has built up behind the dam, limiting its water capacity and compromising its safety in the event of an earthquake or other catastrophe.

He said the area cleared of trees has been owned by the Public Works Department for 60 years and was bought specifically to be used as a sediment placement pit. There are already placement areas to the north and south of it, but the northern one is full and the southern one is nearing capacity.

When the southern one is filled, public works officials plan to landscape several acres of it with oaks and other trees, and Spencer said environmentalists and local neighborhood organizations would be asked to help with that.

"We understand how sensitive this issue is," he said. "We don't tear out environmental habitat willy nilly."

The now-decimated grove occupies a flatland below the steep slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

It is near a residential neighborhood and a small wilderness park in an area popular with weekend hikers and bicyclists. Several of the protesters who gathered Wednesday night said they had lived in the area for 40 or 50 years and walked their dogs there frequently.

The clearing operation began after extensive efforts by opponents to stop it. In December, county officials ordered a 30-day moratorium, which ended last week.

In 2003, Quigley spent 71 days in an oak tree known as Old Glory that was to be bulldozed to widen a street in Santa Clarita, another Los Angeles suburb. Authorities finally removed him from the tree, and it was saved and replanted elsewhere.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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