New York Times: Staying in a Tree, Delaying the Final Cuts

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After a court victory and some vigorous pruning, the University of California, Berkeley, was still waiting on Monday for four protesters to come down from one of two remaining redwoods in a contested, and now largely mulched, campus grove.  Protesters have been living in trees in the grove since late 2006 in an effort to prevent 42 oaks, redwoods and other trees from being cut down to make room for a $124 million athletic center adjacent to Memorial Stadium.

Last week, however, a California appeals court declined to continue an injunction on construction of the athletic center. The university started cutting down the trees on Friday, sparing just two — the tree-sitters’ home and one mature redwood, which will be transplanted.  On Saturday, university officials believed that they had struck a deal with the four tree-sitters: they would descend from their hand-built, solar-paneled perch about 100 feet up in exchange for the university’s increasing its tree-replacement program and allowing a vigil for a fallen tree. “We really thought they’d be coming down,” said a university spokesman, Dan Mogulof.

Mr. Mogulof said that deal fell through on Sunday after protesters on the ground made more demands, including immunity for some tree-dwellers who are accused of tossing their human waste at the police.

“That was a nonstarter for us,” said Mr. Mogulof, adding that the university would soon “proceed with plans to bring this protest to a safe but certain end.”  Doug Buckwald, a spokesman for Save the Oaks, one of three groups that had sued to stop the building of the athletic center, said the university continued to ignore the earthquake dangers of both the new project and Memorial Stadium, which dates from 1923 and sits on the Hayward fault. “It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Mr. Buckwald said.  On Monday afternoon, about 20 protesters on the ground were still praying, playing cymbals and generally making an effort to uphold this city’s renowned radical spirit. “If you change just one soul, one heart, that’s victory, man,” said Pancho Ramos-Stierle, 33, shouting to a man standing on a platform in the tree. “We think this school can have a gym and trees, too.”