CROWD SAYS OAK'S BARK WORTH FIGHT PROTESTERS MARCH TO ASK ANTONOVICH TO SAVE TREE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Advocates for ``Old Glory,'' the 400-year-old Valley oak standing in the way of a highway planned in Stevenson Ranch, rallied Wednesday in front of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's downtown office and called for abandoning the road project.

Actress Rene Russo and several children were allowed to go up to Antonovich's eighth-floor office at the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration to deliver their proposal, but county police refused entry to most of the protesters.

An office worker, opening the glass security doors, took the proposal and letters from the children.

Antonovich's spokesman Tony Bell later said the supervisor had a busy schedule and could not meet with the protesters, but he hoped they would agree with his plan to relocate the tree.

Canyon Country resident Evangeline ``Vina'' Shaw, 11, who helped deliver the letter and carried a sign reading, ``Uproot King Mike From His Throne,'' said she was disappointed the supervisor didn't come outside to meet her.

``He wants to uproot the tree and if he uproots it, he'll kill it,'' Shaw said. ``It's over 400 years old; it was here before the Pilgrims. It's very beautiful, and it will keep the air clean.

``If it's uprooted, more cars will come up here and more kids will get asthma like I have. If they get rid of the tree, it will break my heart.''

The plan, introduced by Lynne Plambeck, president of Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment, calls on the supervisors to create a park in the area around the tree and keep Pico Canyon Road at two lanes, rather that expanding it to four.

It also asks the supervisors to order an environmental impact report on the road alignment that will lead to the 21,600-home Newhall Ranch development.

A public hearing on the project - the largest development in county history - is set for Jan. 28 in the Board of Supervisors hearing room. Approval has been stalled by concerns over environmental and water issues.

Plambeck said relocation of the tree was not an acceptable solution because its size and age makes it survival highly unlikely after a relocation. Arborists debate whether such a large tree would live if it were relocated.

Officials from Valley Crest Tree Co. say Old Glory would be the biggest tree they've ever moved. One of the prime concerns in moving the tree is preserving the root system, which arborists say could be 70 feet deep.

Bell said the Department of Public Works had looked at alternatives to save the tree for three years and decided relocation was the best plan. Antonovich has ordered the department to contract with a professional relocating service that has moved 30 similar trees in recent years in the area.

``If you put a two-lane road in there, you will kill the tree,'' Bell said. ``The tree would not be able to handle the stress of a two-lane road, and we are confident the tree can be relocated successfully and thrive in a new location.

``Where it is currently is a big hole, and it has drainage problems.''

Protester John Quigley, a hired tree-sitter who has been perched in the oak since Nov. 1, did not attend the protest, but has said Antonovich's plan is not enough to get him out of the tree. Sheriff's negotiators have pleaded with him to come down.

Quigley said that a handful of supporters paid for his gear, including flashlights, tarps, material to build the platform and food, and also has agreed to pay his cellular phone bill. Those expenses have reached about $600 to date.

The supporters also have agreed to pay for his household expenses if the protest continues. Quigley, who said he's dipping into his savings, has missed about three weeks of work already.

``I am missing work and am not generating the income I normally generate,'' he said. ``No one gets paid to do this work. But, you gotta eat; you gotta cover expenses for gear that's required. When I signed on, I said I needed the expenses of it covered and hopefully as time goes on and I'm starting to miss work, if they can help out with household expenses that would be very cool, but there was no specific agreement about it.''

What started out as a bail fund should protesters be arrested has turned into a donation pool to support Quigley's expenses. So far, people interested in saving the oak have donated more than $600.

``I've been so focused on what I'm doing, I don't know, my rent is coming up, but I had some savings,'' he said. ``Hopefully, it'll be over.''

Quigley, who endured 40-mph winds Tuesday night, volunteered to become the tree sitter after he heard about an e-mail his friend received from Lynne Plambeck of SCOPE, asking for help to save the 400-year-old oak.

Bell said the supervisor was optimistic Quigley would come down from the tree, but declined to say what steps would be taken if Quigley refused.

At the protest on the steps of the Hall of Administration, folk singer Fred Starner played the banjo and sang a song about this ``tree situation here.''

``Well, if you want to see the tree, let me tell you what to do,'' Starner crooned. ``Talk to your friends about the highway pushing through. Then get on the Internet and look for someone who will fight, someone who will fight and climb up and ain't afraid of heights.

``Bulldozers will be blocked, stalled with flesh and blood. So as the tree murderers gathered around. A man from the Palisades, he came down. John Quigley, by name, and he knew how to play the game. He had some equipment, a fax and a bag. By golly, he's become a persistent nag.''

Russo, who said she grew up on a street in Burbank that didn't have any trees, said it was important for children to have trees to play in.

``I'm a native girl of California, and I've seen in my lifetime so much of Southern California destroyed and it breaks my heart,'' Russo said. ``I would like to say this tree represents all the loss Southern California has experienced. It's not about building. It's about being responsible to our land, our wildlife and our people and for future generations.

``We have so few of our native plants left. I would really like the county to take a stand for our natural heritage and really be strong. Do it for the kids, do it for the community and do it for future generations.''

Santa Clarita resident Tom Dicioccio, who performed an American Indian ceremony by spreading tobacco leaves in front of the hall prior to a moment of silence, said after the protest that the movement to save the tree was just the beginning of a protest to prevent the Newhall Ranch development.

``It's going to get bigger and bigger,'' he said.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Saugus resident Tom Barron displays a picture of ``Old Glory,'' the 400-year-old oak in the middle of a dispute about the planned Stevenson Ranch road project.

(2 -- color in SAC edition only) Tree protesters Matthew Zubal, 10, front; Lynne Plambeck, right; and Cassie Maier, 11, left, are led into the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors building by sheriffs Wednesday.

(3 -- color in SAC edition only) Actress Rene Russo, with ``Ballona the Frog,'' speaks at the protest at the L.A. County Supervisors building.

(4 -- ran in SAC edition only) Fred Starner plays his banjo and sings protest songs during Wednesday's demonstration.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer