In some parts of North County Wangari Maathai would be called a tree-hugging liberal feminist. When she divorced her husband in the 1980s he accused her of being "too educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn and too hard to control." Fortunately the Kenyan woman has never paid much attention to name-calling, because if she had she might never have fought against political oppression, founded the Green Belt Movement and mobilized thousands of poor African women to plant 30 million trees. In 2004 she was the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

All communities have their advocates, and in recent years Lael Montgomery has become one of Valley Center's strongest. Chairman of the Design Review Board and just re-elected to the Planning Group, Montgomery operates from the standpoint that development and conservation are not mutually exclusive.

"Change and growth are inevitable," she says. "Ugliness is not. The destruction of natural topography and rock formations, existing topsoil, vegetation and large trees is not inevitable; nor is it preordained that development must destroy community character, the environment and our quality of life."

She also believes that it's up to the residents of a community to shape its future and to this end has spent literally thousands of hours attending community workshops, meeting with developers, writing grant proposals and sitting on planning boards and committees.

Like Wangari Maathai, Montgomery is a woman who values trees and is no stranger to name-calling.

"I've been accused of being just about every kind of '-ist' you can think of, from crazy environmentalist to overeducated elitist," she told me. It amuses her that the term "tree hugger" should be used as a derogatory slur, because "trees make oxygen, and across the political spectrum we all need to breathe."

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia describes Valley Center as being "a community in transition from a small rural town to a suburban bedroom community." Those of us who treasure what is still left of its unique character, charm and beauty have people like Montgomery to thank for educating themselves about land use, fighting for our oaks and refusing to accept the kind of suburban-style grading, construction and design standards that are incompatible with a small rural town. It takes tenacity and courage to keep showing up and standing up to county officials and developers who don't live here and who have nothing to lose and much money to gain by flattening our landscape and moving on to their next project.

"It's like baseball," Montgomery says. "You have to show up at every single inning. You have to be there - it's the follow through that makes the difference."

Wangari Maathai's goal was to plant trees in order to produce sustainable wood for fuel use as well as combating soil erosion. Her tree-planting campaign was very unpopular at first. She was vilified by the Kenyan government, arrested several times for campaigning against deforestation and, on one occasion, beaten unconscious. But she wouldn't stop showing up and she couldn't have accomplished much without the support and energy of all those tree planters.

For information on how to become an active participant in the future of Valley Center, contact Lael Montgomery at (760) 751-0300 or laelmontgomery@aol.com.

- North County Times columnist Brigid Brett lives in Valley Center. Contact her at brigidbrett@aol.com.