Ancient Oak Saved by Citizen Activism

Editor's note: Following is the story of how this tree was delivered from Texas Department of Transportation bulldozers. It was written by a person who got involved, made a difference, and suffered mild repercussions. It was edited to protect the writer's identity.

This story is not for the younger ears. Date: approximately 16 years ago.

So, a person calls me on the telephone and said, "Have you seen the plans for widening Loop 1604 at Culebra?" and I says "no". The person says you have to see the live oak a little north of the intersection.

I check it out and it is the most perfect live oak I've have ever seen, and I realize that the access road (cursed abominations) will eliminate the tree. I begin to contact individuals through various grapevines - church, native plant, sierra club, garden club, etc - to contact TXDoT (and their local or state elected represenative) and persuade it to move the access road or purchase additional ROW.

The movement spreads until a television station hears about it and asks for an interview, which I agree to - being young and the reporter being very tall and blond. Later that afternoon, she goes into the district engineer's office with camera lights blazing and wanting to know what TXDoT will do to save the "most perfect live oak in Bexar County" (according to XXXXXX). Needless to say, being an engineer, he is flustered, agitated, and incapable of a coherent answer. Unfortunately for me, he did not possess the spirit of honest competition and owned a typewriter. I now am the proud owner of two letters of reprimand from XXXXXX and XXXXXX.

Moral of the story - go through proper channels BUT also use pressure via citizens. The tree was saved only by continuous public pressure.