Berkeley oak grove controversy
The University of California, Berkeley oak grove controversy arose over the planned removal of a grove of oak trees in preparation for the construction of a new student athletic training center for the University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley municipal law prohibits removing any coast live oak with a trunk larger than six inches within city boundaries, but city boundaries do not include the university and the university further claimed an exemption to the city law as a state agency. The university's actions sparked three lawsuits, as well as a tree sit-in that ran from December 2006 to September 2008, when the trees in question were finally cut down.
The oak grove sits at the base of California Memorial Stadium and at the time of the controversy consisted of about 90 trees: 65 oaks, including 38 coast live oaks, 25 pittosporum, 8 redwoods, 5 pines and 1 or 2 cypress, cedar, pepper and yew trees. Anywhere from two to five of the oaks predated the 83-year-old stadium. According to Lech Naumovich, a conservation analyst for the California Native Plant Society, "This is one of the most outstanding examples of oak woodland in an urban interface, and the last remnant of coast live oak woodland ecology in the Berkeley lowlands." Naumovich also said that the grove provided sustenance for over 300 animal species, among them squirrels, acorn woodpeckers and deer.
It is illegal to cut down mature coast live oaks in the City of Berkeley. However, the University claims an exception as its property belongs to the state and is not within the city's jurisdiction. The University claimed that most of the trees were planted in 1923 as part of a landscaping project. The university further stated that of the 44 trees slated to be cut down "only two or three predate memorial stadium."
The proposed Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC) will be four stories tall, with 142,000 square feet (13,000 m2) of space.
...
Wikipedia