A longtime Lompoc landmark — thousands of walnut trees just east of the city — have been toppled, leaving residents to mourn the missing orchard.
Grower Art Hibbits said the lowest prices in 25 years caused the business to lose money for three years and led to the removal of approximately 3,000 trees after nearly a century as a walnut operation.
To many longtime residents, the grove has been as iconic as Lompoc’s famed flower fields, an emotion a “very sad” Hibbits appreciates.
“I understand,” he told Noozhawk. “A lot of wedding pictures and graduation pictures have been taken there.”
A small number of trees near the family home will remain to block the noise from passing traffic.
Acres of trees have covered land just east of Lompoc’s city limits and north of Highway 246, so their removal prompted repeated questions and comments from residents on social media in June and into this month.
“Anyone know why they are taking down the walnut trees on 246?” a woman asked.
“I feel so sad to see it,” another commented.
“I actually cried this morning when I passed by. I didn’t know they tore them ALL out. Born and raised here. I loved seeing those perfect rows of trees, sun filtering in patterns on the ground below. They were beautiful.”
“Kind of sad to hear this. We used to go as kids to help our parents and older siblings harvest the walnuts back in the day. For them it was all work and for us younger ones it was fun.”
Removal of the walnut trees follows the dramatic reduction in the flower fields that once flourished across the Lompoc Valley.
Mixed in with those expressing sadness at the loss and remembering better times at the site were facetious — and flat-out wrong — posts claiming the land would be repurposed for cannabis.
Once the trees have been removed, the land will remain used for agriculture but for vegetables, Hibbits said.
The land has been home to walnuts trees since the 1930s — through four generations of the Hibbits family.
Across the Hibbits Ranch, the thousands of trees that have been knocked down will become lumber due to challenges created by an increasingly competitive global walnut market.
China has entered that market with the best varieties and equipment, providing strong competition to U.S. growers.
“They went from zero walnuts exported to the biggest exporter in the world so they wiped us out,” Hibbits said.
Last week as some workers armed with chain saws loaded the wood onto trailers, a sawmill situated by the house was making lumber out of what Hibbits called “the good stuff.”
In addition to creating lumber from usable trees, they will selling burls, or the unique growths that can be valuable to woodworkers.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Hibbits said.
While the crop will change, several years ago the family took steps to protect the 395 acres through a voluntary conservation agreement with The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, recognizing the prime topsoil that is more than 30 feet deep in places.
“Our family’s goals in pursuing this conservation easement are to protect and encourage the continued agricultural uses on the ranch in a long term, sustainable manner, whereby productivity and economic viability are maintained and enhanced,” according to a Hibbits family statement on the Land Trust’s website.