Residents Fight Loss of Eucalyptus Tree Buffer

The Dekker family can’t seem to get much peace and quiet.

Since they bought their home on Saville Avenue eight years ago, they have put up with constant noise. Overhead, helicopters chop and jets roar on their way to and from Van Nuys Airport. And behind their two-story home, a steady stream of cars and the occasional diesel truck chug past on the Ventura Freeway.

So when the Los Angeles Zoo sent loggers to peel back the neighborhood’s only defense against the freeway din--a stand of eucalyptus trees--residents started making some noise of their own. Zoo officials, who planted and own the trees, say they needed to cut the trees to feed five koalas, who only eat eucalyptus leaves.

Neighbors say they also need the trees to buffer freeway noise and block the thoroughfare from view.

“We’re not against harvesting the trees for the koalas, we’re just against them cutting the trees,” said Henk Dekker, who stood in front of the chainsaws in a futile effort to halt the cutting last month.

Dekker started a petition against the harvesting of eucalyptus trees, and by Thursday had collected more than 60 signatures.

Since June, the zoo has cut about 230 trees down to stumps, which promotes new shoots and makes the leaves more accessible to zoo workers. Los Angeles Zoo Public Information Director Lora LaMarca said the koalas are “really very, very specialized and finicky eaters.”

The zoo planted a total of five acres of eucalyptus trees 15 years ago, using land borrowed from the federal government.

But over the years, said LaMarca, the zoo did not maintain the five-acre stand properly, and the trees grew as high as 80 feet. Only the tops of the trees sprout fresh leaves.

Michael Dee, mammal curator at the zoo, says each koala eats about 3 pounds of eucalyptus leaves a day, and the group goes through about three truckloads a week.

“Currently, we’ve been going around Griffith Park and the zoo,” he said. “But there is not enough of the variety that they need to subsist on.”

Dee says there are hundreds of kinds of eucalyptus trees, and koalas like some better than others. Other zoos around the country buy eucalyptus leaves from a Florida supplier at a cost of about $10,000 per koala each year.

“Why should we buy something we can grow in our own backyard?” Dee asked.

For years residents near the eucalyptus grove have been trying to persuade Caltrans to put up a sound wall along the freeway. So far they have been unsuccessful, making the eucalyptus trees even more important.

“They kept the noise down and filtered out the carbon monoxide from the freeway,” said John Deming, who lives on nearby McCormick Street. “They’re also beautiful. They’re a part of our neighborhood.”

Dee said they now have enough food to last the koalas for about eight months, so the zoo will not commence harvesting the Encino grove in the near future. Zoo officials also said they will sit down with residents before more cutting.

But since Jan. 20, the last time the zoo cut trees at the grove, residents have begun to worry that the worth of their homes will decrease.

“The noise level has definitely increased,” said Deming. “And now we can see the freeway, especially at night when the cars have their headlights on. Lots of people around here don’t enjoy being in their yard anymore.”