This is a tale of two majestic trees, one recently mutilated by a PG&E subcontractor, and another scheduled to be chopped down unless public opposition somehow saves it.
The second tree, a towering coast redwood that stands between the Point Reyes Animal Hospital parking lot and Lagunitas Creek, is 80 feet tall and has five trunks. Its full canopy is slightly asymmetrical due to exposure to winds and salt spray whipping down Tomales Bay.
Caltrans plans to remove the redwood when it replaces the Green Bridge in the summer of 2026. Installing the bridge, which will be assembled offsite, will require two mammoth cranes and the relocation of power lines along the bay side of Highway 1.
Much to the dismay of Mary Whitney, the veterinarian who owns the hospital, PG&E plans to chop down the redwood to temporarily relocate the pole holding up the power lines.
“When I asked Caltrans if they had explored other alternatives to removing this majestic, healthy redwood tree, I was told this was PG&E’s only option,” she said.
Ms. Whitney believes Caltrans could relocate the wires behind the hospital, but that would require renting more of her land for easements. “They didn’t want to pay more money,” she said.
She is urging friends, clients and tree-lovers to mobilize by writing letters to the California Coastal Commission, which will decide on Nov. 14 whether to grant the project a coastal permit.
“I could save the tree if enough people express outrage,” Dr. Whitney said.
Benjamin Anderson, a master arborist who recently inspected the redwood, found it was in good health and appraised its value at $73,400.
“The subject coast redwood is a valuable and healthy specimen that contributes significantly to the landscape of the Point Reyes Animal Hospital,” he wrote, noting that Caltrans also plans to remove a healthy oak from the site. “I recommend that alternative routes for the power lines be pursued where possible to avoid compromising the health or stability of these valuable trees.”
(To comment on the project, send comments to [email protected] before Nov. 13. Reference agenda item 2-24-0786 Lagunitas Creek Bridge Replacement.)
And now for the other tree, which is—or rather was—a stately black locust on Chileno Valley Ranch. Mike and Sally Gale were sitting on their front porch last week, enjoying their morning bowls of oatmeal, when they heard the roar of chainsaws. Ms. Gale jumped onto her A.T.V. and sped to the site, just down the road from their driveway. By the time she got there, a tree company hired by PG&E had chopped the trunk in half and lopped off the branches.
It was the only shade tree on that side of their ranch, and it was a favorite spot for cattle to gather. Ms. Gale believes it was planted by seed sometime in the 1850s or 1860s, perhaps when the ranch was owned by Henry Halleck, who later became Abraham Lincoln’s chief of staff.
“The tree is at least 160 years old, and no one notified me that it had been marked for removal,” Ms. Gale said. “It was a complete shock.”
The tree once had two main branches, and the one that extended toward power lines had previously fallen. The remaining branch reached away from the lines and was in fine health. “When they cut it, there wasn’t any rot at all, not a bit,” she said, adding that during the cutting, one of the branches crashed down and damaged a ranch gate.
The trunk is now just half its previous 20 feet. “It would be miraculous if it came back, but we’re hoping that it will,” Ms. Gale said. “It was a graceful tree that puts out special flowers in the spring. I have 400 acres on that side of the ranch, and it’s the only tree that flowers dramatically. It was a sign of spring to us. We always watched to see when it would bloom, and we celebrated that time.”
Neither Caltrans nor PG&E provided a response by press time.