I suspect my old friend Harold Miossi, whose charitable trust has given $1.5 million to the SLO Repertory Theater’s building fund, would be hopping mad SLO REP wants to cut down a magnificent publicly owned coast live oak it promised to save.
Harold loved these oaks and sparked my own interest in them. In fact, he was my first “oak teacher.”
I grew up in the Midwest, where deciduous oaks dominate many forests, but had never seen an evergreen oak till coming to California. When I arrived in SLO for my first job—as a reporter for the then Telegram-Tribune—I was struck by the unfamiliar beauty of these spreading, sprawling trees, unlike any tree I knew from the old country. As I explored the outdoors, I photographed oaks I found interesting, and soon some of my photos were turning up in the newspaper—like in a photo spread on the oaks of San Luis Mountain in the paper’s Saturday magazine.
Harold made my acquaintance early on. A prominent rancher, he was chair of the new SLO Sierra Club chapter, and something of an environmental hell-raiser. He was known for stopping a Caltrans scheme to cut down Cuesta Pass and fill Cuesta Canyon, where his family ranch was located. He had also fought PG&E’s proposal to relocate its ill-fated Bodega Head nuclear plant, with an earthquake fault right under it, to Diablo Canyon. At that time Diablo was smack in the middle of a stretch of coastline the feds were eyeing for a national seashore.
Harold also led a campaign to create the first national wilderness area in our region—to designate Lopez Canyon, which is right over Cuesta ridge from SLO, as wilderness.
In me, a kid reporter, he found access to the news. He’d stop by the office frequently with news tidbits, which is exactly what any reporter loves.
I was assigned to do in-depth coverage of the Lopez Canyon proposal. Harold was my tour guide. For two days we hiked the wilderness, canyon and ridge, getting a sense of the land. It was on these trips that Harold taught me about the different live oaks of our area. On the coast we find Quercus agrifolia, the coast live oak, but in Lopez Canyon there’s a second type, Quercus chrysolepis, the canyon live oak. Superficially similar, these two species differ in shape, size, leaf, and acorn shape.
PG&E showed more flexibility and public spirit than SLO REP, which has worked itself into a tizzy, convinced their choice is the theater or the tree, when in fact it’s the theater and the tree.
The wilderness quest proved frustrating for local conservationists. Our congressman, Burt Talcott, was opposed. Eventually we got a new congressman, a youngish guy named Leon Panetta, who was all for it, and the Santa Lucia Wilderness became reality.
The Diablo Canyon controversy tore the national Sierra Club apart. Among club board members, only one had been to Diablo, Martin Litton. The rest talked about Diablo being a
“treeless slot” with little value. Litton knew better—one of the finest coast live oak forests was located there. It included what Litton called the largest coast live oak in the world, with a spread of 150 feet. It was a beauty. Litton photographed it, and Harold, a friend of Litton’s, borrowed Litton’s negatives so we could make prints for the newspaper.
PG&E planned to obliterate this fine oak forest to make space for a switching yard. But pressure was brought to at least save the world’s largest oak, though by the time PG&E finished “trimming,” it was much smaller.
In being willing to work with this remarkable tree, PG&E showed more flexibility and public spirit than SLO REP, which has worked itself into a tizzy, convinced their choice is the theater or the tree, when in fact it’s the theater and the tree.
SLO REP claims, based on easily refuted assumptions about the tree’s root spread, the tree has no chance of survival, so it plans to cut it down despite promising, in writing, to save it.
SLO REP has absolutely nothing to lose by leaving the tree in place, taking reasonable care during construction to protect it, and then nurturing it to assure its continuing health. Nothing to lose, and a whole lot in the good citizen department to gain.
I suspect that’s the outcome SLO REP’s generous patron would prefer. So SLO REP, honor Harold Miossi’s memory, his love for live oaks, his large monetary gift, and do right by our oak tree. Give it the chance you promised. The chance it deserves. ∆
Richard Schmidt writes to New Times from San Luis Obispo. Send a response for publication by emailing it to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in April 9-16, 2026.
