He rebuilt it, but they did not come.
More than three years after developer Ed St. George illegally buzzsawed Santa Barbara’s largest monarch grove at his Beach City apartment complex, and despite extensive restoration and replanting efforts to bring the migratory population back, the butterflies have still not returned.
That was the main takeaway from a status report delivered by city staff to the Planning Commission this week, an official check-in that was part of St. George’s comeuppance for cutting down the 32 eucalyptus trees, for which he also paid a $95,000 fine and issued a formal apology. At the time, St. George said he removed the trees because they offered cover for nearby homeless encampments and posed a fire risk.