This view sings to my heart. Every time I return from a trip, the sight of the distant Santa Monica mountains and the lush lined Westlake Boulevard means I'm home. I will cherish this photo I took yesterday because within a few days all of the trees on the left side of the picture will be gone, cut to their stumps by a greedy short sighted developer, Regency Centers. Two hundred trees are in the process of being murdered including California oaks that are hundreds of years old. Why? The developer alleged the trees were rotted, diseased and a danger to the public. This turned out to be a lie but the chain saws didn't stop. I live in Ventura County in the Westlake Village section of Thousand Oaks.  Both county and town have the strict laws to protect native trees especially oaks. The city council turned a blind eye to this 25 million dollar redevelopment project to update an aging mall. The council's plea of ignorance concerning the tree slaughter is suspect. Suddenly the silver tags on native oaks were meaningless, their rules for protecting sycamores out the window. Landmark trees are being brutally killed for a few more parking spaces to make a shaded retail area into an asphalt desert.
There doesn't seem to be a word for tree murder but somehow seeing trees cut down for no reason wrenches my gut. I grew up under a canopy of 14 red and white oak trees on Long Island. Their yearly cycle was part of my everyday life. I am saddened by what is happening in my town. One of the qualities that attracted me to Thousand Oaks was the mature landscape. There was a sense of natural history, trees that existed before the area was developed.  With this latest example of lax environmental stewardship, I fear before long Thousand Oaks will have a new name - a Thousand Stumps.