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Early last year Greenspace was invited to sit on aninformal tree committee consisting of interest groups advocat-ing tree protection of assorted forms. The group named itself

the San Luis Obispo County Oak Protection Committee (Com-mittee). One of the reasons the Committee organized was

because the county is growing at an alarming rate, with mostof the growth occurring outside of traditional urban areas. Re-

cent population projections told us that the county populationmight double over the nextfew decades and the threat

to native oak woodlandswas serious.

After spendingnearly two years looking at

tree protection plans fromother communities and dis-cussing how these plans or

portions of existing plansmight fit with San Luis

Obispos unique conditionsand historical attitudes, the

Committee decided to con-duct a poll to determine if anoak protection ordinance

had a chance to be accepted by the voting public in our county.Greenspace stepped up to the plate, volunteered

to write a proposal, and subsequently was awarded a grantto conduct the San Luis Obispo County Oak Tree Protec-

tionSurvey by California ReLeaf. The aim of the surveywas todetermine whether the voters of our county had aninterest in oak tree protection. This topic is especially rel-

evant since, under current conditions, San Luis ObispoCounty has no oak tree protection with the exception of a

narrow band of coastline that falls under the California

Coastal Act jurisdiction. Al-though some jurisdictionsl ike Paso Robles andAtascadero have now imple-

mented new oak tree ordi-nances, nearly all the unin-

corporated areas of ourcounty have no oak protec-

tion whatsoever.With the help of a CalPoly

Professor, Daniel Levi, theCommittee designed a survey,

Volume 3, Number 8 November/December, 2003

The Insider

Respondents generally agreed that an oak treeordinance should be funded with development fees andpermit fees. Supporters and opponents of an oak ordi-

nance did not support general tax funds and property taxassessments as funding mechanisms.

The Committee is committed to using the infor-

mation gathered in the oak survey to write an oak pro-tection ordinance that the voting public has indicatedthey will support. Greenspace will continue our assis-tance in this en-

deavor. If an ordi-nance is presented

to the voters as aninitiative, we will be

asking you for helpgathering signatures

to place the ordi- nance on the ballot.

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY OAK TREE PROTECTIONSURVEY RESULTS

mailed it to 2000 randomly selected registered voters in San

Luis Obispo County in June of 2003, and did the statisticalanalysis on the returned survey questionnaires. The re-sponse rate to the survey was about 15% which, from a

sampling perspective, translates into an error rate of +/- 7%.The results of the survey indicate that nearly 70% of

respondents thought protecting native oak woodlands wasimportant. The onus of an ordinance, according to the sur-

vey, should be placed on resi-dential subdivisions, residentialdevelopment, and commercial

development outside of urbanareas, while less restrictions of

oak protection should occurwith single family residential

within urban areas and agricul-tural activities outside urban ar-eas. In all cases, the majority

of respondents supported oaktree protection in all areas of the

county whether urban or rural.

Even more surprising, fully 76%of the respondents supportedthe adoption of a native oak tree

protection ordinance.

As the Place of Residence Table indicates, an oakordinance was supported by a majority of residents from all

regions of the county.

Coast Live Oaks near Cambria Photo Credit: Roland & Karen Muschenetz

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Foradonationof$15to Greenspace,youcanreceive

aGreenspacehat.

Post Office Box 1505

Cambria, California 93428(805) 927-2866 - Phone

(805) 927-7530 - Fax

e-mail: rick@GreenspaceCambria.orgwww.GreenspaceCambria.org

U.S. Standard Rate

PAID

Permit No. 37Cambria, CA 9342

Non-Profit

Organization

Photo Credit: Carr CliftonCoast Live Oak

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