Woman Takes Canyon Trees to Heart

Motorists driving through Laguna Canyon on New Year’s Day were greeted by the sight of red foil hearts pinned to most of the trees along Laguna Canyon Road.

The hearts were the work of Beth Leeds, a 51-year-old environmentalist who has pinned hearts on the trees for the past three years to protest the planned San Joaquin Hills toll road which, she says, will destroy the area’s natural beauty.

“We are designating the trees that are in danger of being removed,” said Leeds, who works as an artist and legal secretary. “Some of these trees are 250 years old. They were here before our country was founded and are beloved to people who come to Laguna every year.”

Beginning about 11 a.m. on New Year’s Day, Leeds and several cohorts pinned hearts to most of the trees along the approximately two-mile stretch of highway from El Toro Road to the San Diego Freeway, paying particular attention to the grove of sycamore trees in the Sycamore Hills area. They also marked several oak and eucalyptus trees.

“I guess I wanted to show my feelings for Laguna Canyon so that people driving by could see that somebody cares,” Leeds said. “Trees don’t have any voice (so) this is their voice. They are wearing the hearts like badges.”

The $1-billion San Joaquin Hills toll road, due to open in 1996, would be a 17 1/2-mile extension of the Corona del Mar Freeway connecting San Juan Capistrano to John Wayne Airport and traversing Laguna Canyon Road at the Sycamore Hills area. While the city of Laguna Beach has gone on record opposing the project, its efforts to date have been unable to derail it.

Construction of the toll road “would be the end of this sycamore grove,” Leeds said. “Where else would I rather be on New Year’s Day than out in a Laguna Canyon that’s still saved? My present to the canyon each year is to hope that there will still be trees to put the hearts on next year.”