Groups representing North County ranchers are undaunted in pursuing an all-voluntary oak protection program, though a Superior Court judge has ruled that the county's 2003 oak tree rules received proper review and may continue to be enforced.
Judge Zel Canter of Santa Maria said the plaintiffs -- the Santa Barbara County Cattlemen's Association, the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business, or COLAB, and the Center for Environmental Equality -- had no case because the county had amply considered their viewpoints before deciding to restrict oak tree clear-cutting.
"Their failure to carry the day represents to all appearances a deliberate choice by the members of the Board of Supervisors, and not the result of any deficiency in the environmental documents informing that decision," Judge Canter wrote in a Nov. 16 ruling.
Since the changes went into effect, county planners said, only a few dozen oaks have been cut down on North County farms and ranches, and their removal didn't trigger the requirements for management plans or permits. At the time the ordinance was drafted, a boom in wine suggested many rolling hillsides would soon sport vines instead of oaks, but when it was finally approved, a glut in grapes slowed most land conversion.
Posted by gandlwoods at December 11, 2004 10:16 AM