{"id":1068,"date":"2013-03-28T12:22:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T19:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/?p=1068"},"modified":"2022-08-02T17:25:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T00:25:44","slug":"controversy-grows-after-eucalyptus-trees-chopped-down-in-rural-agoura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/2013\/03\/28\/controversy-grows-after-eucalyptus-trees-chopped-down-in-rural-agoura\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy grows after eucalyptus trees chopped down in rural Agoura"},"content":{"rendered":"

Species deemed harmful by NPS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source of this article: The Thousand Oaks Acorn<\/a>, March 28, 2013<\/p>\n

Gary Haynes strolls on the grounds of Peter Strauss Ranch in rural Agoura about three times a week, enjoying the scenery, wildlife and the sweet smell of the towering eucalyptus trees on the property once owned by his friend and fellow actor, Peter Strauss.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the 76-yearold Haynes, best known for his work on the 1960s soap opera \u201cPeyton Place,\u201d was shocked when he discovered dozens of the eucalyptus trees had been chopped down and their trunks strewn across the property like corpses on a battlefield.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

FALLEN FRIENDS\u2014Gary Haynes laments the downed eucalyptus trees at Peter Strauss Ranch in Agoura. The park service said the trees, which are not native to the area, disrupted the watershed.<\/p><\/div>\u201cI feel like some of my friends died,\u201d Haynes said. \u201cI know they\u2019re just trees. And I know this is a small event in the larger scheme of things and mine is largely a private grief. Though I think we all should take notice when something beautiful dies\u2014 or rather, is killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haynes says he is by no means a \u201ctree hugger,\u201d a derogatory term for an ardent environmentalist, but that the destruction of the trees seemed unnecessary. He said Native Americans considered trees to be \u201ctree people,\u201d living organisms deserving respect and honor just like humans.<\/p>\n

The National Park Service isn\u2019t grieving over the downed trees.<\/p>\n

Eucalyptus is a nonnative, invasive species. In fact, the trees are considered by Californian ecologists as enemies to the natural habitat and robbers of Southern California\u2019s most precious commodity\u2014water. And the trees have high oil content in their leaves and bark, making them potential fire hazards.<\/p>\n

Kate Kuykendall, a public information officer for the National Park Service, said a letter was mailed to residents who live near the ranch explaining why the 45 trees on the property had to be destroyed.<\/p>\n

The trees grow quickly, altering the Malibu Creek watershed, and bring a \u201cnegative impact on animal habitat,\u201d Kuykendall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly the trees in the surrounding creek were removed,\u201d Kuykendall added. \u201cOne key thing to know is that we will not remove any eucalyptus trees in the historic grove near the actual Peter Strauss home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irina Irvine, a park service restoration ecologist, explained that eucalyptus trees grow so fast that some of them had to be destroyed even though they weren\u2019t directly on the creek bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have eucalyptus trees by the creek, they are more apt to reinfest the creek,\u201d Irvine said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to restore the area to what it was like long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before eucalyptus trees were introduced to California from Australia during the 1850s, native coastal oaks and sycamores were the prominent trees in the region.<\/p>\n

Irvine suspects that the eucalyptus trees were brought to the current property in the 1930s or 1940s. However, she said most of the trees that were removed were 30 years old or less.<\/p>\n

Irvine described other problems with nonnative species such as the eucalyptus.<\/p>\n

Allelopathy is a process in which the composition of the soil is changed so only specific trees\u2014like the eucalyptus\u2014can germinate. The result is that native trees are crowded out by the dominant eucalyptus, followed by the endangerment and degradation of water quality.<\/p>\n

Irvine also said that the leaves and bark from eucalyptus trees litter the land and push out frog populations.<\/p>\n

Chemicals from the trees leach into the creek and affect water quality, which has been found to affect endangered fish species like the steelhead trout.<\/p>\n

Irvine said a $171,000 state water-quality grant for creek restoration is being used for Peter Strauss Ranch and another property that has been infested with eucalyptus trees.<\/p>\n

Haynes says he understands the reasoning behind the tree removal but can\u2019t help but miss the giant friends that greeted him during his walks at the ranch over the past three decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard they cut \u2019em down because the eucalyptus is not native to this locale,\u201d Haynes said. \u201cThey say they\u2019re immigrants\u2014 they\u2019ll spoil the gene pool. But that\u2019s not nature\u2019s way of thinking. Maybe the government\u2019s reasons are right, but I still hurt when I see this.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese old giants served us, they stood watch\u2014they gave beauty. They were living things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Species deemed harmful by NPS Source of this article: The Thousand Oaks Acorn, March 28, 2013 Gary Haynes strolls on the grounds of Peter Strauss Ranch in rural Agoura about three times a week, enjoying the scenery, wildlife and the sweet smell of the towering eucalyptus trees on the property […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,32,23,50,67,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-nps","category-fire-hazard","category-habitat-improvement","category-invasive-species","category-santa-monica-mountains"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3627,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions\/3627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}