Arcadia oak grove is cut down around protesters

Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 01:31 in Earth & Climate

Crews chop down 200 oaks and sycamores as four protesters perch on platforms and several residents look on sadly. County officials say the clearing was needed for flood-control and seismic work on a reservoir.A prized grove of more than 200 coastal oaks and sycamores in Arcadia was reduced to stumps, broken limbs and slash piles by mid-afternoon Wednesday, despite a showdown with four tree-sitters attempting to stop bulldozers from clearing the land to make way for muck dredged from a nearby reservoir.