About two years after it was filed, the Bear Yuba Land Trust has settled a lawsuit it filed against a local man who had cut down several large trees, over a century old, on a Trust preserve. The attorney for the Trust, Craig Diamond, says Michael Nudelman, who is also an attorney, had requested permission to remove three medium-size firs, which were blocking the view from Nudelman’s home…

click to listen to Craig Diamond

The Trust said cutting down the trees would diminish the conservation values of the land the organization was meant to protect. It said large growth trees are quickly disappearing from urban areas and provide critical wildlife habitat, food sources, and a refuge to a variety of birds, mammals, and amphibians. But about six months later, the Trust discovered four very large conifer trees had been cut down on the preserve, three of which were part of Nudelman’s original request. Diamond says the suit sought unspecified financial damages which would be determined after the trial. But he says the Trust dropped the litigation, in exchange for settlement funds that will go toward remediation efforts of the preserve. It happened just before the trial was supposed to begin…

click to listen to Craig Diamond

Diamond was unable to provide the amount of the settlement. The trees were on Woodpecker Wildlife Preserve in Nevada City.