The City Council of Oakland has voted to impose a fine of nearly $1 million on Nigerian medical doctor, Matthew Bernard, and his wife over the felling of 38 legally protected trees on and around their Claremont Avenue property in the United States.
A California-based media platform reported that more than 20 residents attended a public hearing on Tuesday, where they called for strict enforcement of Oakland’s tree protection laws.
Residents argued that the tree canopies in the area play a major role in wildfire prevention, environmental protection, public health and ecological balance within the community.
The controversy followed earlier reports in which Bernard and his partner, Lynn Warner, said the trees were removed based on the advice of an arborist.
Speaking during the hearing, Bernard told the council that the trees removed from the property nearly four years ago were “dead, dying, leaning,” or in “hazardous condition.”
City authorities, however, disagreed with the explanation and imposed a fine of $915,135.40 on Bernard and Warner.
The council also placed a claim on the property, preventing the owners from developing or selling the land until the fine is fully settled.
Defending the decision, community tree specialist, Erys Gagnez, said the scale of the penalty reflected the long-term environmental impact caused by the removal of the trees.
“Trees of that size are not commercially available for replacement. Even with replanting, it will take decades, even centuries, to restore the ecological and protective functions that were lost. The scale of the fine reflects this reality,” Gagnez said.
