In the latest development to the saga surrounding the proposed dumping of dam sediment in the Arcadia Woodlands, the private security company All Nation Security Services, Inc. now has guards actively patrolling the placement site that is home to the 179 oak trees that face removal if the county goes through with its controversial Santa Anita Reservoir Sediment Removal Project.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (DPW) spokesman Bob Spencer said the county had instructed the contractor, Arizona-based Quest Civil Contractors, to hire the security company. 

"The contractor is about to take delivery of several million dollars worth of equipment that's on its way to the site," Spencer said. "... We believe it's a prudent move on our part."

Spencer said that just because the equipment is on its way to the site does not mean the trees are doomed.

"It was already en route from the East Coast before the board took the decision to put a 30-day halt on the project," he explained, adding that it was impractical from a financial standpoint for the contractor to send the equipment back.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, on a motion brought forward by Michael D. Antonovich, issued a moratorium delaying the project for a minimum of 30 days on Dec. 7. The DPW is to report back to the supervisors on alternative solutions for relocating the sediment when the 30 days expire on Jan. 6.

Jason Kruckeberg, Arcadia's assistant city manager, said in a telephone interview that he had no knowledge of the private security company being at the site. Kruckeberg also said that the county had not been in contact with the City of Arcadia since the public meeting held by DPW at Highland Oaks Elementary School on Dec. 16.

The Santa Anita Sediment Removal Project would move 500,000 cubic yards of debris from the Santa Anita Dam to sediment sites located within the city of Arcadia on land owned by the county.

The 11-acres in the middle of the sediment site have sprouted 179 live oaks and dozens of sycamore trees. The county's proposal calls for these trees to be chopped down so that 250,000 cubic yards of sediment can be dumped in their place.

"I don't know where the justice is on this thing. Antonovich told them to find out another way of doing it. We showed them another way of doing it. And they don't respond," said Glen Owens, a Monrovia Planning Commissioner and leader of the save the trees movement.

"We're jumping through the hoops and [the county's] sitting there saying we got the power, screw you," Owens continued. "If they're going to play that kind of game, we're going to have to go to the court systems."

Though Owens has helped lead the charge against chopping down the trees, the city of Monrovia at large has maintained a neutral position in the matter.

City Manager Scott Ochoa wrote in his Dec. 17 weekly report that "everyone is against the removal of the trees..."

"... However, there is unfortunately no easy answer here," he wrote.

Trucking the sediment to alternative locations poses its own sets of challenges, according to Ochoa.

"If you spread it around the existing properties, it appears you either are faced with bulldozing the trees or violating a "view-shed" agreement with nearby residents regarding the height of the existing mounds of sediment," Ochoa wrote. "Conversely, if you truck out the debris, the Highland Oaks residents will be faced with significant truck traffic over the next couple of years."

At the public meeting at Highland Oaks Elementary School, Owens presented an independent report written by engineer Bart Stryker that claimed, in a sharp rebuke of the county's Environmental Impact Report, there was still enough room in the existing upper and lower sediment sites for the debris.

Another option presented at the public meeting was to take out only half of the sediment now and dump it in the lower placement site, which has the capacity to take 250,000 cubic yards of debris. In the short term, this option would leave the woodland area unharmed and likely give the dam enough operating capacity to allow it to comply with state requirements. It could also potentially allow the county more time to come up with new alternatives to chopping down the oak trees.

Despite these possible alternatives, Arcadia resident Cameron Stone, who spotted the security guards on Monday, told Patch he worried that the contractors "may do something stupid" before the moratorium expired.

Stone summed it up.

"Once [the trees] are gone, they're gone."

Staff Writer Nathan McIntire contributed to this story.