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According to the Webster?EUR??,,????'???s Dictionary a landscape architect is ?EUR??,,????'??one who develops land for human use and enjoyment through effective placement of structures, vehicular and pedestrian ways and planting.?EUR??,,????'?? This covers a great deal of design, planning and preparation. Combine this with a population that continues to expand and a necessity to facilitate that growth in an environmentally-sensitive society and the result can breed controversy.
More than 60 years ago, Los Angeles County officials generated a master plan for highways based on estimates for projected growth in the Santa Clarita Valley in Southern California. The 1940 proposal outlined a plan to expand Pico Canyon Road from two lanes to four. The new Pico Canyon Road would connect to Highway 126 and would help to alleviate congestion on an already crowded I-5. With such a projected influx in traffic, the results of not increasing Pico Canyon Road would have resulted in the forcing of additional automobiles onto I-5. As Los Angeles County supervisor Michael Antonovich said in the Daily News, the project to expand the road had been approved in 1988 by the Regional Planning Commission and in 1999 plans to realign the road were approved by a hearing officer saving 14 out of 15 oaks that lay in the path of development.
The remaining white, or valley oak (Quercus lobata) sat directly in the middle of Pico Canyon Road?EUR??,,????'???s path and was estimated by Senna Tree Company to be 180 to 220 years old. The decision to relocate this tree originated with an effort by John Laing Homes to save it while also fulfilling the projected transportation needs of Santa Clarita Valley and the requirements set forth by a pre-approved tract map for the expansion of the road.
The expansion of the road was part of the Newhall Ranch project. Specifically, the fifth phase of the Stevenson Ranch project (a 21,600-home development) that could not be completed without widening the road. Based on inspections by certified arborists, tree movers and the Public Works Department of Los Angeles County, it was determined that the best possible solution to the situation and for the tree was to move it to a nearby oak preserve?EUR??,,????'??+where many smaller oaks impacted by local development had been moved.
Therefore on Nov. 21, 2002, John Laing Homes released a statement announcing their plans to relocate the tree to the preserve. The 18-acre park houses approximately 120 oak trees and plans were underway at that time to add an additional 170 oaks to the park.
John Laing Home?EUR??,,????'???s team to move the tree initially consisted of Valley Crest Tree Company, landscape architect Lee Newman and Donald F. Rodrigues, an arborist for Pacific Horticulture. With preparations to move the tree underway, controversy and media hoopla began to stall progress.
On Nov. 1, 2002 John Quigley climbed the tree, chained himself to it and vowed to remain there until a resolution to save the oak was made. The move thrust the tree?EUR??,,????'???s fate into the media spotlight. Quigley wanted a solution that would send the road around the tree as opposed to relocating it.
John Laing Homes had put forth more than three years in trying to find alternative solutions to moving the tree. Meetings with developers, Los Angeles County agencies, environmental and local groups were among those involved in the effort to find alternatives. Based on the information obtained in the previous three years, it was determined that there was no alternative solution to the expansion of the road without either moving or destroying the oak.
Quigley had been contacted by the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment, or SCOPE, and asked to represent them in a stand against John Laing Homes?EUR??,,????'??? plan to remove the tree. However, Quigley and SCOPE were not the only individuals committed to saving the big oak.
Newman, an oak tree consultant who has been involved in the successful relocation of more than 4,000 oak trees, confirmed that there was no other alternative to moving the tree. ?EUR??,,????'??It was approved for removal by the county,?EUR??,,????'?? he said. ?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s hard to make the county change their general plans for the road so you fight as much as you can and then you try to find an alternative.
?EUR??,,????'??The difficulty comes in safety, and safety is a very important factor. I think when we all think of preservation now, we know it can work. The question was, could we develop a road around it? The answer was yes. Would it be safe? The answer was no. Could you slow the traffic down to make it safe? The answer was no, because people will not drive slow.?EUR??,,????'??
Newman went on to explain that the tree was sitting in the middle of Pico Canyon Road?EUR??,,????'???s centerline. On one side lay a creek. On the other, a cliff. There wasn?EUR??,,????'???t anywhere else to go.
According to Newman, although there was room, the county would not allow for the construction of the road to go between the tree and the cliff?EUR??,,????'??+as this would have required the construction of several compound curves. Newman explained further. ?EUR??,,????'??In road design, they want to see steady things. There is road-curve safety criteria that you have to maintain. I tried this when I worked with the first builder and we tried to preserve that tree and he wouldn?EUR??,,????'???t allow it based on the county?EUR??,,????'???s report back in the 80s.?EUR??,,????'??
?EUR??,,????'??You can?EUR??,,????'???t change safety,?EUR??,,????'?? he explained. ?EUR??,,????'??So I mean, could you have done it? I?EUR??,,????'???ve done projects where roads wiggled severely. It?EUR??,,????'???s okay on an internal street to do things like that because you are already down to 25 miles an hour. So I think that?EUR??,,????'???s the critical thing. We had a rock cliff on one side, we had homes proposed on another side with a zoning clearance and we had a road design with a certain radius and a certain width. So you put all that in the equation and it?EUR??,,????'???s hard to come by and do it. I would have loved to have seen the road wiggle the way the old road did and it would?EUR??,,????'???ve looked nice, but it?EUR??,,????'???s very difficult with the speed that everyone wants to drive.?EUR??,,????'??
So, still holding a permit to take the tree down, John Laing Homes stayed committed to saving the tree and moved forward with the plans to relocate it.
While the flames of controversy continued to spread with protests, a decision was made by the giant Valley Crest landscaping firm to walk away from the project?EUR??,,????'??+a move that added additional fuel to the project?EUR??,,????'???s public relations wild fire.
With Valley Crest no longer involved, Bill Rattazzi, Regional President for JLH and Newman turned to John Mote, Certified Arborist and President of Senna Tree Company for help.
Mote met with Rattazzi the next day, evaluated the tree and determined that it could be moved successfully. Just two days after meeting with Rattazzi, Senna Tree Company began preparations for the relocation of the tree and subsequently gained an understanding as to the existing problems that caused all others to walk away.
Almost instantaneously Senna Tree?EUR??,,????'???s office was flooded with telephone calls protesting their taking the tree-moving job. The company put all other business aside for the day and attempted to speak to each and every person that called. However, a language barrier was present with more than 70 percent of the callers, and that proved to be a difficult task. Having received some calls from SCOPE, Mote discovered that most of the calls were coming from fans of a Spanish-language radio personality named Cucuy. The fans were trying their best to communicate with STC in English while their native tongue was Spanish. The message, however, was pretty clear: ?EUR??,,????'??Please don?EUR??,,????'???t cut the tree! Don?EUR??,,????'???t kill the tree!?EUR??,,????'??
That same day, Mote went on air with Cucuy in an effort to clarify the company?EUR??,,????'???s position and involvement on the project. By the end of the interview, Cucuy urged his fans to continue supporting the tree as well as Senna Tree Company and what they were trying to do. ?EUR??,,????'??It turned out to be a really positive experience and almost immediately, the phone calls stopped?EUR??,,????'??, Mote recalled.
With one hurdle behind them, overcoming one obstacle only meant revealing another. There were hundreds of people at the tree daily. There were safety concerns on the developer?EUR??,,????'???s part and a security service was hired.
Local children were climbing a cliff to watch the proceedings, adding urgency to resolve the situation. However, there were problems. During Mote?EUR??,,????'???s initial meeting with Rattazzi, he noticed that the tree had already leafed out and the seasonal window of opportunity to move the tree had passed. This meant that a completely different approach had to be used. Mote proposed root pruning in phases to spread it out over time to observe the tree as they went, allowing the tree to set the schedule.
Mote explained. ?EUR??,,????'??When you prune roots on a deciduous tree in leaf, you can read the leaves to determine the degree of drought stress the root pruning has imposed, so as you prune in phases, you can gauge whether the preserved root mass will be sufficient to support the canopy, allowing for adjustments in root ball size and schedule.
?EUR??,,????'??The traditional approach of moving a tree while dormant is making a judgement and committing completely, because once the tree leafs out you?EUR??,,????'???re stuck with the results.?EUR??,,????'??
?EUR??,,????'??Rattazzi had set his schedule based on Valley Crest?EUR??,,????'???s advice and now we were on board and asking for, what was in fact, an open ended schedule,?EUR??,,????'?? Mote said of the developer?EUR??,,????'???s representative.
Therefore, they discussed the shortest possible schedules based on a favorable reaction from the tree and those were initially set for six months.
Mote recalled that Newman was instrumental to the successful move of the oak. ?EUR??,,????'??Lee was always present, supporting the tree and Senna Tree Company. He handled most of the media duties and worked with the developer to extend the phased root pruning over 14 months.?EUR??,,????'??
What few people know is that when Senna Tree Company calculated that 80 percent of the roots had been pruned, there was concern that an abnormally large amount of bottom roots might exist because the tree displayed little signs of drought stress.
?EUR??,,????'??Again, it was Lee who explained to the developer that because the tree was responding much better than anticipated, we wanted more time,?EUR??,,????'?? Mote said. ?EUR??,,????'??Things got even better when we tunnelled under the box and found our concerns unfounded as no significant bottom roots were encountered.?EUR??,,????'?? Finally, on Jan. 20, 2004, the day that developers longed for, and protestors hoped to avoid, arrived.
The oak tree began its journey to a new home. Supporters of the tree turned out, as did an array of news media and onlookers, to capture the move on video.
Two trucks located on the south side were used to push while three located to the north side of the tree were used to pull it from the excavation site on a custom built trailer consisting of 128 wheels. To bring the 916,000 lb. tree to its new home, three trucks pulled it a quarter of a mile along Pico Canyon Road to join the existing 120 oaks already located at the preserve.
A monumental task, an unbelievable feat, today the tree remains in good condition after such a monumental venture. When asked about the oak?EUR??,,????'???s current condition, Mote said, ?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s doing very well. It?EUR??,,????'???s fully leafed out and holding its leaves. Our goal is to support the tree and to insure that it will hold its leaves throughout the summer and into the fall, year after year. This insures that maximum photosynthesis will occur creating the carbohydrates to fuel cell production and re-establishment.?EUR??,,????'??
The tree will be monitored by arborists twice a week, every week, for the next five years. However, they aren?EUR??,,????'???t stopping there. Mote plans to stay in touch with the tree and has even automated the system that will water it for the next few decades.
?EUR??,,????'??The most important part of our job begins now,?EUR??,,????'?? he said. ?EUR??,,????'??I expect to be monitoring that tree for as long as I live and I hope to live to be 105,?EUR??,,????'?? chuckles Mote, ?EUR??,,????'??I fully expect the tree to outlive us.?EUR??,,????'??
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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