The battle over trees on Nevada City property deemed a wildfire hazard to PG and E power lines finally came to a head early this (Fri.) morning, with three protesters arrested. Police Lieutenant Paul Rhode says they’d been asked by the utility to help coordinate the construction of a fence around Pioneer Cemetary, where about a-dozen trees are targeted for removal, and the protesters were interfering…

All three protesters were cited at the jail on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and released. Matt Osypowski, with Save Nevada County Trees, says their focus has been on six of the trees which, he says, have been deemed by a city-hired arborist as low-risk. He says they’re also at least 100 feet away from power lines. He says they’ve reached out to a court-appointed attorney who recently blasted PG and E’s program as arbitrary and not as effective as it could be. If nothing changes, he says they may ask the attorney to seek another injunction…

But Osypowski says there’s still room for compromise…

Meanwhile, the trees are still standing, with one lone protester still high up in one of them. PG and E Communications Specialist Brandi Merlo says they have less than 50 trees to remove out of the original 263, most which are on private property, where there has also been some resistance.