County Would Turn Fallen Tree Into Firewood : Decision Makes Oak’s Friends Do a Slow Burn

About a half-dozen “Friends of the Fallen Oak” gathered around the maimed roots of a gigantic, toppled 700-year-old tree in Lake Forest on Sunday, waving placards and posing for television and newspaper cameras to protest the county’s decision to turn what they consider historic vegetation into firewood.

Although Santa Ana winds uprooted the oak last month, the demonstrators contend that a fence should be built around the horizontal tree because it could live for many years yet. One of the group, Toren Segerstrom, urged that the tree be preserved as a home for birds and to “provide us all with a sense of history.”

After the tree, which sits on county-owned land, fell down, the oak’s friends covered its roots with dirt in the hope that they could eke out a few more years. But recently they discovered the dirt had been bulldozed away, the roots had been severed with a power saw and several deep gashes had been sliced into the five-foot-wide trunk.

Adjacent Equestrian Center

Protest organizer Marilyn Dove said she suspected the damage was done by people at the adjacent Serrano Creek Ranch, an equestrian center. At the ranch house, a ranch hand said he didn’t know anything about the tree, adding that he couldn’t understand the commotion.

“It’s dead anyway,” said the man, who declined to give his name.

Dove said the group intends to go to court to seek a restraining order that would bar the county from destroying the tree. Until the suit is filed, she said, the Friends of the Fallen Oak will stand guard around the tree to assure it is not damaged further.

On Sunday morning, they used the gnarled roots to prop up signs of protest, many of them calling Supervisor Bruce Nestande “hangman,” “butcher” and “foe” of the oak tree.

Affection for Oaks

Contacted at home, Nestande, whose district includes the tree in question, insisted that he “has affection for oak trees” and denied being a butcher.

“I’m not going to be backed into a corner as being against oak trees,” he said. “The thought that we should preserve all oak trees that have fallen over and are as good as dead is going too far.”

County officials have determined that the fallen oak could be “a potential hazard” for children climbing the horizontal tree’s branches, Nestande said, adding that he has worked to preserve oaks at Irvine Park and around Coto de Caza.