Protesters Rally Over Cutting of 40 Oaks to Make Way for Dam

Waving placards in a howling wind and chanting various rallying cries, several dozen people turned out Sunday in Thousand Oaks to protest the removal of 40 ancient oak trees sitting in the path of a proposed $5-million dam.

The afternoon rally on Westlake Boulevard was held at a trailhead about 200 yards from where Ventura County work crews on Saturday trimmed the limbs off a dozen oaks.

Cutting will resume at 7 this morning.

“It’s an emotional time and I understand that, but we have a job to do too,” said Hugh Clabaugh, a Ventura County engineer for flood control design and construction.

The marchers at the rally included members of the Save Lang Oaks Fund, which is fighting to stop the dam, and several bird and tree lovers.

“We want to raise concerns and point a finger, and say shame on [Ventura County],” said Gerry Langer, a homeowner in the neighboring Lang Ranch community and the director of the oaks fund.

Langer’s group lost a bid Friday to prevent the tree removal, but it has filed a lawsuit to block the dam.

Its members oppose the dam because they believe the structure will make surrounding hillsides where homeowners live more susceptible to landslides.

County officials contend that the project poses no such danger.

In addition, county officials say the proposed Lang Ranch dam is necessary to protect the Conejo Valley from flooding in the event of a massive storm.

Langer shouted through a bullhorn at passing motorists while fellow protesters gripped homemade signs with such slogans as “Arborcide Here.”

“This whole dam is being built on a sinking dam of lies,” said Jan Osterhaven of Thousand Oaks.

Several passing motorists honked their horns in support.

Camarillo resident Penny Burley said she attended the protest because the thought of oak trees being replaced by a concrete dam made her angry and frustrated.

“I would have chained myself to a tree but it’s too late,” Burley said.

On Friday, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Hutchins, in rejecting the Save Lang Oaks Fund’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the dam’s construction, said the group’s lawsuit has little chance of prevailing.