UC Berkeley starts cutting controversial grove
4 tree-sitters are isolated as the school starts cutting trees on a site where an athletic facility is planned.
BERKELEY -- — The University of California moved quickly Friday to begin cutting trees in a grove on campus where tree-sitters have staged a protest for the last 21 months in a bid to block construction of an athletic facility.
Four tree-sitters perched in a 90-foot redwood found themselves increasingly isolated as workers began cutting the trees around them. University officials said they expect all of the grove's trees to be chopped down by Monday except the one the four men are occupying.
The university had been stymied for months by the tree-sitters and by a lawsuit filed by neighbors and the city. Over time, hundreds of protesters have climbed up into the trees to protest.
The university finally won approval to begin construction late Thursday when a state appeals court declined to issue a stay blocking the project. The campus wasted no time in getting to work; crews began cutting limbs at 8:30 a.m.
UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university hopes the four will give up their protest and come down on their own.
"We will give them some time to appreciate the new reality," he said. "At a certain point in the coming days, the reason for their protest will no longer be here."
One tree-sitter, who goes by the name of Huck, vowed in a cellphone interview that the four will continue their protest and remain aloft indefinitely. As he watched the workers cut down the 85-year-old trees, Huck said he was devastated to see the university -- a public institution -- destroying the grove.
"It's appalling, it's criminal, it's beyond criminal," said Huck, 27, who joined the tree-sit six weeks ago. "It's beyond words how horrifying it is."
The university says that 43 of about 70 large trees on the site must come down to make way for an athletic center for its 400 student-athletes. The athletes now occupy cramped and dingy quarters in nearby Memorial Stadium, which itself needs to be upgraded because it sits on the dangerous Hayward earthquake fault.
The protesters maintain that the grove of coast live oaks and other trees should be preserved because it is one of the few natural areas remaining on the crowded campus.
Mogulof pointed out that the grove was planted when the stadium was built and characterized it as "a 1923 landscaping project."
- Sudden Oak Death Found on UC Campus Nov 02, 2001
- UC seeks civil penalties against tree protesters Sep 23, 2008
- UC Berkeley tree-sitters won't surrender Sep 08, 2008
