Residents Gather to Bid Farewell to 60 Aged Oaks

The old oak trees below the dusty lot where William Maple stood Sunday had weathered years of storms and droughts, but they would not last much longer.

More than 60 of the trees near the intersection of Westlake Boulevard and Avenida de Los Arboles will soon disappear, their place taken by a flood control basin.

Maple was among about 50 people on Sunday who visited the grove to commemorate the doomed trees.

Maple said many area residents don’t realize the full beauty of their home. “There’s so much of Thousand Oaks you don’t see,” he said. “And I wanted to see this before it was gone.”

Planning Commissioner Linda Parks organized the event, which included hikes through the grove as well as presentations by local environmental groups.

“I just didn’t want to drive by one day and see the trees missing without having something to commemorate them,” she said.

The flood basin is part of the Lang Ranch Co.’s plan to build more than 2,200 homes in the area. A dispute between the developer and the city over details of the flood control project led the company to sue the city. Last year, a federal court ruling allowed the project to go forward, with the stipulation that the company must save as many of the trees as possible.

Some residents at Sunday’s ceremony resented both the loss of the trees and the development behind it. Suzanne Duckett of Thousand Oaks said the new homes were packed tightly onto small lots and looked like a “blight” compared to other neighborhoods.

“This is not what Thousand Oaks has been about,” she said.

Although Sunday’s ceremony focused on the ill-fated grove, it also gave residents a chance to watch presentations on trail etiquette, chat with the city’s oak tree consultant on proper care for the trees and play with some nonpoisonous snakes provided by the Wilderness Institute.

Maple said Thousand Oaks residents need to learn about and protect the natural resources within their city. Maple and his family settled in Thousand Oaks seven years ago after watching development overrun their former Orange County home, and now he is concerned that his new city may suffer the same fate.

“I don’t want my children moving farther up north in 20 years,” he said.