The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will decide the fate of dozens of trees on Modoc Road, but before the big vote, activist Warren Thomas has something to say.
Thomas is the co-founder of CAMP, Community Association for the Modoc Preserve, and has led the effort to stop the county from cutting down anywere from 21 to 46 trees along Modoc Road in order to build a separated bike path.
“We need to save the trees that run along the Modoc Preserve,” Thomas said. “They are shade canopy, they are wildlife habitat, and they are historic heritage trees that really have helped to define the bucolic nature of Santa Barbara.”
Thomas talks with journalist Josh Molina in the latest episode of the Santa Barbara Talks podcast.
Watch Thomas explain the controversy in the video link below.
He was one of about 30 people who gathered on Modoc Road recently to protest the removal of trees to build a bike path between Santa Barbara and the Obern Trail.
One county proposal would remove 46 trees, including 29 mature Canary Island palms, under an option called “Alignment A.” A second option, “Alignment B,” would involve the removal of 21 trees.
Most of the protesters said they don’t want either alignment and believe that all of the trees should be preserved.
“It’s probably one of the most iconic, bucolic drives or paths in Santa Barbara,” Thomas said. “It’s just beautifully shaded.”
Many of the Canary Island date palms are more than 100 years old, and are home to a variety of species, including monarch butterflies, hawks, owls and other birds and raptors.
“There are a couple of owl boxes out there, but why live in a box when you can live in a tree,” Thomas said.
Some of the trees, including the eucalyptus, survived the 1990 Painted Cave Fire.
“They actually acted as a firewall to keep the flames from going through Hope Ranch and burning all the way to the Mesa,” Thomas said.
County planners said the bike path would complete the last major gap in this regional network identified in the Eastern Goleta Valley Community Plan and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments Regional Active Transportation Plan.
Thomas in the podcast also talks about what he describes as a “lack of transparency” in the process. The initial vote was scheduled for July, but the activists spoke out about not knowing about the project, and the county recirculated the environmental document.
“We really hope we can get the supervisors, the decision-makers, at a minimum, to read the three legally backed challenges to the mitigated negative declaration,” Thomas said. “At a minimum, we’re hoping they can at least tap the brakes on this whole thing, and ask for an EIR.”
Watch this podcast by clicking here on the video link above and find more podcasts with community individuals by visiting Josh Molina’s YouTube channel. Molina uses his two decades of journalism experience to create dynamic and engaging conversations with a variety of individuals on the topics of housing, education, transportation and culture.
Visit his Santa Barbara Talks web site and consider a contribution to his independently owned podcast.