Arcadia Highlands' Oak Protesters Face Trial as Sheriff Declares Tree-Sit Site a "Crime Scene" in Order to Limit Public View of and Access to Bulldozing of Mature Woodlands - Los Angeles County, CA

Arcadia Highlands' Oak Protesters Face Trial - Page 1 - News - Los Angeles - LA Weekly

If those outraged by Los Angeles County’s green light to bulldoze hundreds of graceful century-old oaks and sycamores in the Arcadia Highlands have any solace, it’s perhaps that the annihilation of the old-growth woodland to create a sediment dump has stirred a wider public to action — or at least anger.

That awareness may be raised further this week as four eco-activists face arraignment on misdemeanor charges over their failed efforts to protect 249 majestic trees in the Santa Anita Wash north of Arcadia.

PHOTO BY MARK CROMER

“I am willing to go to trial,” Quigley says. “I want to see what a jury of my peers says when they see what the county did and how they did it.” John Quigley, Andrea Bowers, Julia Jaye Posin and Travis Jochimsen were arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies after taking up positions in the tree canopy to slow the bulldozers and draw attention to the stunning destruction.

The bulldozers on Jan. 12 smashed through 11 acres of pristine wildland owned since the 1950s by the County Department of Public Works. But for much longer than that, the area had been home to a vibrant community of creatures that included deer, fox and occasional bears and big cats.