ON MAY 6, 2022, Adam Baz, a resident who lives near El Sereno, a Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood, noticed a freshly cut pile of black walnut wood on the hillside next to his house. The trees are protected by both local and state ordinances and cannot be cut down without a permit; the one Baz observed had even been inventoried and tagged as part of the site’s Protected Tree Report.
Disturbed by the sight, Baz wrote to the LA Department of Public Works: “There is also a pile of live walnut branches with leaves and fruit. … There can be no mistaking that this tree was alive and healthy prior to being cut down.”
Micah Haserjian, co-founder of Coyotl + Macehualli, a community organization that advocates for the protection of open space native species,