Watch the video to find out why uprooting this tree was illegal.
Video credit: CBS Local News
A couple from Northern California tried to shift a nearly 200-year-old oak tree from one property to another and this caused them a huge fine of $586,000. The judge who fined them slams the couple’s “arrogance” and “complete disregard” of legally binding conservation terms in his defense of the stunningly steep punishment.
The couple is the owner of two properties which are close to each other, one of which included a conservation easement upon which the 180-year-old oak tree was included.
(Note: Oaktree pictured above is not the one removed.) The tree was under the protection of a conservation agreement which they tried to relocate, and the judge says the couple “knowingly and intentionally” violated the tree.
“The case against Peter and Toni Thompson reportedly started in 2014, when a concerned neighbor reported heavy equipment and digging on a property protected under a conservation easement,” CBS San Francisco reported Wednesday. “Court documents show a Sonoma Land Trust official found more than 3,000 cubic yards (2,300 cubic meters) of dirt and rock had been removed and a 180-year-old oak tree had been uprooted.”
The couple attempted to relocate the tree near to another home they had built on an adjacent property. Unfortunately for the tree, and the couple, the process of keeping the tree alive during the relocation process failed. Along with the tree, a dozen or so others and vegetation along the path they bulldozed died as well. ABC News reports.
The Sonoma Land Trust took the action and sued the couple for violating their conservation contract, and a superior court judge agreed, condemning the Thompsons for their “arrogance” and “complete disregard” for the easement terms.
Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Patrick Broderick agreed with the trust that the Thompsons committed “knowing and intentional” violations of their conservation deal, ABC notes. Broderick also raises the point of blasting the couple for having “demonstrated arrogance and complete disregard for the mandatory terms of the easement.”
The $586,000 fine will be used to recover the damaged property, though obviously sans the irreplaceable 180-year-old oak.
After the judge issued the statement, the couple decided to sell their estate for $8.45 million, CBS reports.
“There are so many personal tragic issues throughout this case that were very painful to deal with and actually really affected the ability to tell our side of the story,” Peter Thompson said in a statement reported by ABC. “In our opinion, there’s a lot of evidence that our side of the story really didn’t get a chance to explain.”
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