Old Trees Gain Emergency Protection : Conservation: County supervisors pass the measure after hearing about the removal of 100 oaks on a ranch.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously adopted an emergency ordinance prohibiting the removal of oaks, sycamores and other large and historically significant trees.

The emergency ordinance was adopted at the recommendation of Supervisor Vicky Howard, who was concerned about the removal of 100 oak trees on the Newhall Ranch between Simi Valley and Piru.

Violators of the law, which became effective immediately, can face as much as one year in jail and a fine of $1,000 for each offense. However, the board included an appeals process and several exceptions.

The law was designed specifically to protect older oak and sycamore trees but also includes any tree with a circumference of 90 or more inches and any tree identified by the county as a landmark.

Trees identified by state and federal authorities as historically or culturally significant are covered by the law. The law would only protect trees on private and public land in the unincorporated county areas.

Residents are allowed to trim the limbs on protected trees only if the limbs are less than two inches in diameter.

A spokesman for Newhall Land & Farming Co. said the oaks at the ranch are being removed under a beautification program that will reduce shading of citrus, tidy overgrown areas and clean new pastureland for cattle.

Howard rejected Newhall’s reasons for cutting the trees, saying, “I have a hard time seeing land more beautiful without trees.”

The emergency ordinance will be in place for 45 days while county officials complete a permanent ordinance that has been on the drawing board for more than a year.

Howard and Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said many of their constituents have complained in the past few weeks about oak trees being cut down throughout the east county.

“This is just a wonderful solution,” VanderKolk said.

Howard said she suspects that many landowners have been in a hurry to cut down trees before the board adopts the tree protection ordinance. The emergency ordinance blocks residents from doing that, Howard said.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the final ordinance at a public hearing in June.

A county official in the public works department told the supervisors Tuesday that he knows of a landowner who in the past few months has cut down six oak trees that were at least three feet in diameter.

Under the emergency law, the planning division of the county Resource Management Agency will approve permits that allow landowners to remove or alter protected trees. The permits will be given only if landowners can prove that removing the tree is necessary to develop the land.

Permits to cut down trees will be given if the protected trees are in danger of falling because of disease.

If landowners can prove that such conditions exist, Planning Director Keith Turner said, his division can issue a permit within a day. The emergency does not provide for a fee for the permit, but county officials expect to charge a fee when the permanent ordinance is adopted.

Inspectors at the planning division, who are assigned to find building code violations, will enforce the tree protection ordinance. Turner said his division will make the emergency ordinance top priority.

Landowners can appeal planning division decisions to the Planning Commission, which will have final say on tree-cutting permits.

Public agencies and utility companies that must cut protected trees for maintenance purposes are exempt from the law.