Midler wrongly fells 200 Hawaii trees

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/21/07 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

LIHUE, Hawaii - Bette Midler cut down more than 230 trees around one of her properties on the island of Kauai without a permit, and the state has recommended she be fined.

The staff of the Board of Land and Natural Resources recommended $6,500 in fines for having the trees felled and for building a graded road without permits required for the land zoned for conservation use.

The singer and actress will pay the fines and will follow a replanting program, her attorney Max W. J. Graham said.

The actress and movie star, who was born in Honolulu, didn't realize permits were needed to remove the trees on a vacant 58,000-square-foot parcel of land on Kauai's North Shore, Graham said.

"The whole idea with cutting the trees down was with the idea of improving the lot with native species" instead of the nonnative, invasive species that had grown there, Graham said. "It's unfortunate that a mistake was made."

The National Tropical Botanical Garden, which maintains three gardens on Kauai, will design a replanting plan that consists of appropriate native plants, Graham said.

A botanist hired by Midler after the fact said 120 Java plum trees, 100 octopus trees and 10 to 20 Madagascar olive trees that were cut down were all nonnative species. Some native trees also were removed from the property, the botanist said.

Midler, known for her longtime commitment to the environment, was once known as the Compost Queen and appeared on billboards in Los Angeles advocating green recycling containers are for yard trimmings.

Midler is set to replace Celine Dion as a headline performer at Las Vegas's renovated Caesars Palace next year.

[NormsRevenge]

Ooops!

Bette Midler smiles as she speaks during a news conference at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, in a Thursday, May 3, 2007 photo. Entertainer Bette Midler is expected to be fined by the state of Hawaii for cutting down more than 230 trees around one of her properties on Kauai. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, file)

[dersepp]

I recall she was part of an effort to sue and hold accountable someone on an adjacent property who also felled trees, graded, and dammed up a stream that burst loose and killed a few people. I suppose she thinks she is immune from causing the same problem(s).

[freekitty]

Well, now she will have something to you know what about in her new LV show.

[freekitty]

to talk about in her new LV show.

[goldstategop]

You need government permission to remove trees from your own property. That's evident regardless of what I think of Bette Midler's politics.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[macamadamia]

the Compost Queen





"Yes, she was a font of simian kindness."

[DakotaGator]

So! Instead of going through endless paperwork and possible challenges to obtaining a permit Ms. Midler merely pays $6,500.

Looks like she got exactly what she wanted for pocket change.

[I still care]

My thought exactly. 6500 is pocket change to her.

[Captainpaintball]

I always supected you're a zero
a hypocrite to the nth degree...
and you can lie 'bout your lack of permits
as you have those men remove your trees.

[scott7278]

"The whole idea with cutting the trees down was with the idea of improving the lot with native species" instead of the nonnative, invasive species that had grown there, Graham said. "It's unfortunate that a mistake was made."

She wanted to bring a native species in that's really non-native instead of having the native, yet somehow non-native species that were already there.

My head hurts.

[taxesareforever]

I know lots of people who would gladly pay $6,500 to whack down trees and build their own road. I’m sure that this hits Bette where it hurts. NOT! Not that I care. To me, people are more important than trees.

[Anti-Bubba182]

"Midler, known for her longtime commitment to the environment, was once known as the Compost Queen and appeared on billboards in Los Angeles advocating green recycling containers are for yard trimmings...."

Lol! Love it when big shot hypocrites get embarrassed!

[skimask]

In california any Oak tree whose trunk more than four inches in diameter four feet above the ground cannot be cut down and you cannot cut off any branches more than four inches in diameter.

[Don W]

I’ll parse it for you. The trees that WERE there were of non-native heritage (120 Java plum trees, 100 octopus trees and 10 to 20 Madagascar olive trees). They were planted there years ago and grew large. She also inadvertently had several actual native trees cut down.

She had these trees removed so that she could replace them with native flora.

Nonetheless, you seem to miss the point: she is being fined for cutting down HER OWN TREES! She owns the trees, the land under tham, and yet she has to beg permission from her betters (the gov’t) to do what she wants with her own property.

[GnuHere]

“From a distance
tha World looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains, white.”

“Oh sorry folks, just kiddin’ about that green part!”

[sirdudly]

Oaks are an endangered species in California. A waterbourne disease, Sudden Oak Death, has been killing the things like crazy since ‘95. Protecting something on the verge of extinction isn’t that much of an overstep by the government.

[Fire_on_High]

LOL I’ll wager she did it expecting a fine and considered it simply the price of doing business.

[Hugin]

"The whole idea with cutting the trees down was with the idea of improving the lot with native species" instead of the nonnative, invasive species that had grown there, Graham said. "It's unfortunate that a mistake was made."

There are no native species in Hawaii. Everything came from somewhere else.

[RichInOC]

“I will nevah forget it, ya knowwwww...Ernie asked me, ‘Soph, why’d ya do it?” And I told him, ‘Ern, don’t complain...that’s more wood than you’ve had in years.’”