 |
|
|
| |
Fight the Flower: Eco-Zealot Faces Trial
|
3652 Reads
|
|
|
|
| |
You gotta love this story: A former park supervisor who cut down ficus trees and myoporum shrubs in the Ballona Wetlands - in a personal jihad against "non-native plants" - is awaiting trial now for misdemeanor charges of "injuring vegetation." Each count could bring jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.
"Trimming and landscaping isn't done without authorization from government agencies," said Frank Mateljan of the city attorney's office ...
"I love the wetlands and I care about the endangered species that live there, the plants and animals," van de Hoek said.
|
|
When virtually all of Los Angeles is imported - from the people and machinery to the water and greenery - you have to wonder why anyone should fuss over a few leafy intruders - particularly when it seems half the city's streets are planted with burly, shady, sidewalk-busting ficus trees.
But hey, the guy's on a mission: In 1997, he was arrested in San Luis Obispo County. For 14 months, someone had been sneaking around the 250,000-acre Carrizo Plain National Monument, cutting and killing an Australian invader, the eucalyptus tree.
Van de Hoek had worked as a wildlife biologist at Carrizo for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and had been a vocal opponent of some policies that allowed tree planting and fence building.
According to Mother Jones magazine, which named van de Hoek its June 1997 "hellraiser," the bureau prepared a 100-plus-page case file that included a crime lab's analysis of his wire cutters and photos of his tire tracks.
Van de Hoek was convicted of vandalism and sentenced to three years' probation, according to John Dearing, a BLM spokesman.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Posted by: Mack_Reed on Thursday, September 07, 2006 - 02:21 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
