$250,OOO TRANSPLANT PLAN BUILDER SAYS MOVING ANCIENT OAK TO PRESERVE GIVES IT GOOD CHANCE.Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer STEVENSON RANCH Stevenson Ranch, California (in the 91381 ZIP Code) is a Los Angeles County, USA, unincorporated community west of Santa Clarita a few miles south of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. The Stevenson Ranch fountain was redone in 2007. - The 400-year-old oak tree at the center of a fiery protest by environmentalists and local residents will be moved to an oak preserve, the developer of a nearby subdivision said Thursday. Even though activist John Quigley John B. Quigley is a professor of law at the Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, where he is the Presidents' Club Professor of Law. In 1995 he was recipient of The Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar Award. is still perched in the boughs of the tree - and continues to refuse to come down - arborists plan to begin boxing the 70-foot tall tree next week in preparation for a one-fourth-mile move across Pico Canyon Road to an 18-acre oak preserve. ``It will be a short move and a smart move that has a good chance of saving that tree,'' said Bill Rattazzi, president of John Laing For John Laing, the 15th century bishop of Glasgow, see John Laing (bishop) John Laing plc is a British developer and operator of privately financed, public sector infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, hospitals and schools through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Homes, the builder of the nearby 279-home Southern Oaks development. The preserve along Pico Canyon Road is already home to about 120 leafy oak trees, and 170 more oaks will be planted there, Rattazzi said. However, critics of the relocation plan, which was proposed by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San , contend it will be nearly impossible to dig up all of the massive tree's main roots without severing them. ``They need to build the road around the tree,'' said Barbara Wood-ritz, who joined about 50 protesters in picketing outside the developer's construction trailers during a news conference. The roots on oaks as old as the one dubbed ``Old Glory'' by those trying to save it can go as deep as the tree's height and spread beyond the canopy of its branches, botanists This is a list of botanists who have articles, in alphabetical order by surname. See also the list of botanists by author abbreviation and . A
``There is only a slim chance Noun 1. slim chance - little or no chance of success fat chance probability, chance - a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible; "the probability that an that moving the oak won't kill it,'' Quigley said. ``The community needs a guarantee that these people really want to save it and aren't just putting one over on us.'' Rattazzi said he had no immediate intention of calling in the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Sheriff's Department to arrest those camped out underneath the tree for trespassing or to remove Quigley from the tree by force. ``We're trying to avoid that,'' Rattazzi said. After workers start preparing the tree for the move, it would take more than a month to get to a point where Quigley's presence in the tree would hamper progress, Rattazzi said. ``I certainly hope he's out of the tree before then,'' Rattazzi said. County officials have ordered the oak removed to allow Pico Canyon Road - the main road through the rapidly developing area west of the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. - to be widened to four lanes to meet the demands of future development, including the planned fifth phase of Stevenson Ranch and the 21,600-home Newhall Ranch project. Quigley said he would consider ending his protest if the developer took out a multimillion-dollar insurance policy on the tree - to create a fund to protect and plant other trees if Old Glory dies within 30 years of being transplanted. Rattazzi declined to discuss Quigley's proposal. ``We're taking pretty extraordinary measures already to save this tree,'' Rattazzi said. It will cost $250,000 and take five months to move the tree, Rattazzi said. Valley Crest Tree Co., the company hired by John Laing Homes to replant re·plant v. To reattach an organ, limb, or other body part surgically to the original site. n. An organ, limb, or body part that has been replanted. the tree, will monitor it for five years to make sure the tree survives, Rattazzi said. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, map Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) John Quigley stays in a tree Thursday while builder Bill Rattazzi talks about moving the old oak Quigley aims to save. (3 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Kasey Poston, 4, of Saugus runs across sandbags sandbags small sacks containing sand used to support an anesthetized animal in dorsal recumbency and prevent it from rolling sideways during anesthesia or surgery. cordoning off an oak tree protesters want to save from road builders. (4 -- ran in SAC edition only) Khristy and Damon Peters of Palmdale stop in Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, to look at an oak tree that environmentalists call ``Old Glory.'' David R. Crane/Staff Photographer Map: (ran in SAC edition only) TREE VS. HIGHWAY Battle continues to flare over a 400-year-old oak free. |
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