Guest opinion: Showdown at Bear Gulch Road as redwoods face chainsaw

What was the rationale for cutting down these 100-year-old redwoods? These are rare old-growth trees. And redwoods are the most fire resistant trees out there. They don't burn.
I thought PG&E was supposed to clear out dead trees, not destroy healthy old-growth redwoods.
Aren't these trees protected?

I had a similar experience with the PGE chainsaw gangs outside my house in the coastal mtns.

I agree that PG&E is in a panic after decades of mismanagement. I just want to point out that 100 year-old redwoods, as wonderful as they are, are NOT "old growth". The vast majority of old growth redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains were cut down in the 1800s. Almost all of what we see is second growth, almost all post-gold rush.

"4. ANCIENT OLD-GROWTH – AND ASPIRING YOUNGSTERS
Most of the redwoods we see are about 50-150 years old. That’s equivalent to about age 2-6 in human years! Coast redwoods can grow 100 feet in their first 50 years, so they quickly look like grown-ups. So, when you walk or ride through the Santa Cruz Mountains, remember you are in a nursery of young redwoods that, if protected, can live for 2,000 years and can help rebuild a healthy redwood forest for people, wildlife and future generations."

From the Sempervirens Fund website
Web Link

Wonderful news to hear they are trimming some of these young redwoods in order to keep us all safe from catastrophic wildfire.

SMC Sheriff Dept, please do not let a handful of kooks halt these necessary trimmings. There are more people on that mountain besides the residents of the locked private road.

Just to clarify, please note that the views expressed in the editorial above are in no way related or generally reflective of the residents living on the gated section of Bear Gulch Rd East. The protest, such as could be described, was on the ungated section of Bear Gulch Rd west of Skyline.