A Bolinas couple has settled a lawsuit with the Bolinas Community Public Utility District over injuries and trauma they sustained two years ago, when their truck was struck by a falling eucalyptus tree.
An insurer will cover the payment on behalf of the district, which owns a large stand of aging eucalyptus trees at the intersection of Mesa and Olema-Bolinas Roads.
The tree fell during a heavy storm as the couple was driving a pickup past the property. Neither the utility district nor the plaintiffs, Bolinas residents Annabelle Scott and Elias Rose, would disclose the amount of the settlement.
Ms. Scott and Mr. Rose declined to comment.
Georgia Woods, the utility district’s general manager, said she was relieved that the suit has been settled. “This was a long, drawn-out process, and we’re glad that the negotiating teams could come to an agreement,” she said.
Residents have debated the village’s towering eucalyptus groves for years. Many say they are a hazard and should be removed, while others view them as a unique and cherished part of the landscape and a sanctuary for overwintering monarch butterflies.
Two years before the incident, an arborist’s report commissioned by the utility district had concluded that many of the trees in that stand of eucalyptus were sick or dead and at risk of falling over the roadway or fueling a forest fire. The report recommended removing the entire grove.
Eucalyptus have shallow root systems that make them prone to falling in storms. With large loads of leaves and peeling bark, they also produce lots of flammable debris.
A group known as the Bolinas Eucalyptus Project has devised a plan for clearing the utility district’s property and restoring the site with native trees and vegetation. With backing from the district’s board, it has applied for a coastal development permit that is slowly working its way through the permitting process.
Yet Ms. Woods said the project, which is both large and expensive, is now on hold while the village pursues a scaled-back version that could be fast-tracked under a recent emergency declaration by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The governor’s order, approved in June, suspends two landmark environmental laws to let fire agencies expedite wildfire prevention projects in the coastal zone. The projects must be completed by the end of next year.
The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority has allocated $500,000 for fuel break work it intends to initiate under the provisions of the emergency order, and it hopes to use some of that money for limited eucalyptus removal in Bolinas. The authority would team up on the project with the Bolinas Fire Protection District.
The authority is awaiting the results of an arborist’s report that will be shared at the next utility district meeting before settling on the specifics of the work. It will focus on trees close to the road that could pose a hazard if they fall or burn.
“We’ll be looking at it in terms of evacuation routes and looking at where trees might fail,” said Anne Crealock, project manager for Marin Wildfire. “We might very selectively thin out smaller-diameter trees or remove limbs or duff.”
Smaller trees that catch fire can shoot flames up into the forest canopy, potentially igniting larger trees, she said.
Ms. Woods said the community will put its more sweeping restoration plan on hold until the short-term project is complete. “We’ll learn a lot through this scaled-down process, and then we can hopefully pursue a more ambitious project to remove more trees in the future,” she said.