Barbara J. Miller and the UC Berkeley tree debate

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The death of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller sent reporters to the files for details on her most high-profile case, UC Berkeley’s effort to build an athletic facility on the site of an old oak grove.

The project was part of a plan to renovate UC Berkeley’s football stadium, which has an earthquake fault running underneath it. There were community concerns about traffic, environmental and seismic issues, but the plan to cut down the oak grove next to the stadium to build the athletic facility turned into a standoff with tree-sitters that became an international story.

Thomas Bonk wrote about the issue for The Times in 2007, quoting Joe McDonald, lead singer of the 1960s band Country Joe and the Fish, who supported the tree-sitters: ‘I think they’re gonna pull ‘em right out of the trees and slam ‘em in jail, cut down the trees and build a sports facility. Money talks and so does sports.’

University spokesman Dan Mogulof had a different view. ‘There are some old-growth forests that need protection,’ he said. ‘This isn’t one of them. This is a 1923 landscaping project. What’s happened is bordering on the absurd.’

In July, 2008, Miller ruled in the university’s favor, and by September the trees were cut down.

-- Keith Thursby