There are a lot of bitter battles in the fight to remove--or retain--Eucalyptus trees in our County, but this one got our attention.
This particular battle, which has traveled through the Marin court system only to land in the Court of Appeal in SF, has been going on for over a decade in the bucolic, and tree-filled town, of Larkspur. There, a group of neighbors have demanded that one resident, a widow who has lived there since 1996, cut down a bunch of sky-high Eucalyptus trees that are growing in her yard, and near their property. (Note- the trees pictured here are not the specific trees in this story, but they are located in Marin.)
The neighbors, citing fire and wind danger, took Anne Wolff to court whereupon a judge agreed with them and ordered Wolff to remove 28 of her 45 trees. At most issue, is a group of trees planted in a median row separating the driveway between Wolff and her neighbors, the Mindels.
Wolff refused to abide by the decision and filed an appeal saying the trees pose no danger to anyone.
Eucs are a touchy subject here in Marin, and in a lot of other places for that matter. There is another large battle going on in Tamalpais Valley over a decision by the National Park Service and county fire departments to remove the flammable trees there.
A lot of people would rather live with the fire danger than denuded land, but one would encourage them to recall the devastating Oakland Hills fire in 1991. Eucs were instrumental in helping spread that deadly conflagration.
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