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Posted by Martin-Fontana Parks Association.

This blog is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of TJ Martin and Jeffrey Fontana parks.  These beautiful native Oak parks are in the Almaden Valley of San Jose California.

PG&E has high-voltage transmission lines that run through the 1.2 mile length of the parks.  Their easement grants them the right to cut trees in this park, but only if it is reasonable and necessary.

For many years, PG&E has been pruning these trees to keep them a safe distance from the transmission lines.  In 2009 they decided they did not want to prune these trees anymore.  They had ear-marked 140 trees (approx 30% of the trees in park) to be destroyed and removed from the park.

The first massacre, Phase 1, was carried out on 1 July 2010.  PG&E had several tactics to tame the community such as splitting up the removal of these 140 trees into several smaller cuttings.

As an organization we were able to save a number of trees. Since then this organization has evolved to beautifying and enhancing the park as well as making it a place where the community can com together.

Each year we host the Heart of the Park event to help bring the community together and bring awareness to the needs of the park.

4 responses to this post.

  1. Posted by Jeanne Pryor on January 31, 2012 at 10:18 am

    Hello, my name is Jeanne Pryor and I live in Oakmont in Santa Rosa. PG&E is doing the same thing here to our parks, mainly Anndel, Jack London, and the Mayacamas mountain range. I would like to know who to go to for information and ideas about what to do here. We have had 2 meetings with PG&E and as you know they are not willing to budge or say to much. Although they do say they are “open for discussion”.
    So if you would be able to email me some places to go to and or someone to talk to I would really appreciate it.
    Jeanne Pryor
    email: jeannepryor@gmail.ocm

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    • Posted by Linda Hauck on March 28, 2012 at 3:16 pm

      Hello Jeanne,

      I am a land owner in Sonoma County and we have organized a group of concerned residents called SOS-TREES.ORG. If we come together as a group, we don’t have to fight these battles alone.

      We have a meeting scheduled with PG&E on March 29th from 4-6 PM at the Bennett Valley Fire Station, 6161 Bennett Valley Road. Our website has information about our efforts to stop pg&E from clear-cutting in Oakmont, Sonoma Mountain and Petaluma.

      Linda Hauck

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