Video: Arcadia Woodlands 'Tree Sitters' and Supporters Call for DA to Drop Charges

Three of the four Arcadia Woodlands "tree sitters" who made headlines in January for their peaceful protest of a controversial Los Angeles County project held a press conference in front of DA Steve Cooley's office Tuesday to call for Cooley to drop the charges levied against them.

"Tree sitters" John Quigley, Julia Posin and Andrea Bowers were joined by Arcadia resident Cam Stone, as well as actors and environmentalists Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley Jr., at the press conference in which they also called for an investigation into the Department of Public Works' (DPW) handling of what is known as the Santa Anita Dam Riser Modification and Reservoir Sediment Removal Project.

Quigley, Posin, Bowers and Travis Jochimsen (who did not appear at Tuesday's press conference) refused a plea deal offered by the DA's office that would have kept them out of jail at their last court appearance on March 23. The group-- represented by attorney Colleen Flynn--pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing, disturbing the peace and delaying a peace officer. They will next appear in court for a pretrial conference on April 22, which in a case of unintended irony is also Earth Day.

Despite the media attention and support the "tree sitters" have received, the DA has no plans to drop the charges.

"Those who engage in civil disobedience should accept the consequences of their acts if they disobey the law," Sandi Gibbons, public information officer at the DA's Office, said in a released statement. "Many of those who were at the Arcadia site to protest the removal of trees were neither arrested nor charged."

The activists, dubbed the "Arcadia 4" by supporters, were for climbing trees in an attempt to stop a that destroyed more than on 11 acres of land in Arcadia owned by County Flood Control.

The County bulldozed the trees and plant life in the area so that 250,000 cubic yards of sediment from the Santa Anita Dam could be put in their place. The DPW has said that the sediment needed to be removed so that the dam could meet seismic standards and continue to supply a large portion of the water for Arcadia and Sierra Madre. Alternatives to the plan were submitted to the County by and other locals, but none proved feasible according to a .

Stone and other area residents mobilized after the woodlands destruction to form a grassroots group called the Urbanwild Network. The network includes individuals and groups such as Altadena Crest Trail Restoration Working Group (ACTRWG), California Oaks, Nature Friends Los Angeles, Pasadena Audubon Society, Pasadena Garden Club, San Gabriel Mountains Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Sierra Madre Mountain Conservancy, The Sierra Club-Pasadena and Treesavers.

In just the short few months since its inception, Urbanwild is having an impact on local environmental issues. Its growing political clout contributed to Supervisor Michael Antonvovich's recently passed motion which will require an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the similar sediment removal project at .

Sierra Madre Local Editor John Stephens contributed to this report.