Environmental activist Bette Midler has gotten herself into a bit of a spot:
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.
Ms. Midler “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.”
“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.
It’s rather interesting that someone who cares so much about the environment and global warming would fell well over 200 trees. Of course she’ll pay the fine, and of course there will be new, native trees planted in their places…does that make her close to godliness in the tree hugging world again?
Oh, and if Bette Midler, Tree Hugger Extraordinaire, can whack over 200 of her leafy friends, could she possibly remove 200 or so “nonnative, invasive” illegal immigrants from our side of the border? …oh, wait, sorry for my brief moment of EEEEEEEEEVIL Republican Thugdom.
Bette’s sure gonna have one VERY LARGE compost heap when this is all said and done. 
Bette? What did this tree ever do to YOU?
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