Antonovich Backs Moving Old Oak

Hoping to end a standoff with environmentalists, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich on Monday ordered that a 400-year-old oak tree that stands in the way of a road-widening project near Santa Clarita be moved to a different location.

“It can be moved, and we’ll be moving it to an appropriate site,” Antonovich said. “I don’t [know] why this option wasn’t explored in the beginning.”

But John Quigley, the activist who has spent nearly three weeks camped atop the towering oak as part of a campaign to save it, said he doesn’t believe the supervisor’s plan will work. He said an arborist for the city of Santa Clarita inspected the tree earlier this month and concluded that moving it would constitute a “death sentence.”

“I think it’s a positive gesture that [Antonovich] has come out publicly that he’d like to keep the tree alive,” Quigley said. “But we believe that moving the tree will not achieve that.”

As a result, Quigley said, he will not climb down from his perch.

Antonovich, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley, said he made his decision to relocate the tree after consulting Monday with officials from public works and John Laing Homes, the developer of a nearby subdivision that is required by its building permit to widen the roadway next to the tree.

The moving job would be done by Calabasas-based Valley Crest Tree Co., and would cost the developer about $250,000, officials said. It has not been decided where the tree would be moved, but Antonovich said it would stay in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Antonovich said he made his decision after Valley Crest arborists assured him the tree would survive the move.

John Mote, an arborist and former employee of the company, said Valley Crest has a good track record: Beginning in 1988, the company moved more than 2,400 live oaks off the site of a planned luxury home development at Lake Sherwood in Ventura County.

Mote said more than 90% of those trees survived the move, including some that were centuries old. He said the Santa Clarita oak could also survive if the root system, which would be badly damaged by a move, is carefully maintained.

“A big old tree like that? It’s going to be in intensive care for decades,” Mote said. “But then it’s probably going to make it.”

Many arborists, biologists and developers disagree over whether transplanting oak trees is worth the cost. While some say the trees have a good chance of survival, others argue that relocations are often a way to simply quiet activists who oppose construction projects.

Pat Duff, a certified arborist and owner of ArborTender in Covina, said she has seen pictures of the tree in Pico Canyon near Santa Clarita and believes it has a poor chance of surviving.

“That tree is not in good condition,” Duff said. “From what I’ve seen, its habitat has been pretty severely disturbed.”

After taking up residence in the stately oak, nicknamed Old Glory, Quigley has generated national media attention and become a hero to scores of neighborhood children who chant his name nightly. He has even received fan mail at his new home.

On Monday, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier delivered a letter to Quigley at the tree site. The letter, from one of his supporters, was addressed to Mr. Quigley, Tree #419, Stevenson Ranch, Calif. 91381.

Author C. Macauley wrote that what Quigley was doing had “struck a chord” with the writer, and that “no greedy, thoughtless developer should have a right to destroy” the tree.

But so far, the developer has refused to bring trespassing charges against Quigley.

The Santa Clarita environmental group that recruited Quigley for the tree demonstration wants the county to reconsider widening Pico Canyon Road.

If not, they want the road to be built around the tree.

Bob Haueter, Antonovich’s senior deputy, said he was dismayed by Quigley’s refusal to come down from the tree.

“There may be a difference of opinion here, but the bottom line is, if he wants this tree to be saved, we’ve given him an option to save it,” Haueter said.

He added that officials haven’t yet figured out how to get Quigley down from the tree.

“I guess we’ll deal with that when we get to that point,” Haueter said.