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BERKELEY (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― The last remaining protesters came down Tuesday afternoon from a redwood tree at the University of California, Berkeley, ending an epic 21-month occupation of a campus grove aimed at stopping construction of a new sports training center.

"I'm extremely pleased this tree situation has ended safely," UC-Berkeley Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom said at a news conference.

The tree-sitters announced via walkie-talkie to a group of media gathered on the ground about 1 p.m. that they reached an agreement to come down on the condition that the University of California created a land use committee that would include input from students and residents into the school's future land decisions.

But a UC spokesman later said there was never a deal made, and the university had no plans for such a committee.

"The time for demands was long past" insisted spokesman Dan Mogulof, who added, "There was no quid pro quo." 
 
The tree-sitters' descent was the culmination of a tension-filled day on the Berkeley campus.

School officials had said they were prepared to forcibly remove the activists and had constructed scaffolding around the 90-foot-tall tree to mount the effort. About 45 campus police officers and 25 scaffolding workers were on duty at the site Tuesday.

The scaffolding quickly grew and soon crews and police had reached the level of the tree-sitters' main platform. The tree-sitters then moved upward to avoid the crews as university Police Chief Victoria Harrison tried to negotiate with them from a metal basket hanging from a crane where she stood with several colleagues.

But by 1:30 p.m., the protesters - 'Shem,' 'Mando,' 'Ernesto' and 'Huckleberry' - had gathered their belongings and slowly climbed down a staircase that had been constructed along with the scaffolding to cheers from supporters below.

Harrison said that the tree-sitters didn't want to come down from their perches but relented once they realized that police were serious about removing them.

"They seemed entrenched about not coming down and were not engaged in negotiations," she said, "but over time, their mood changed as they realized we were serious" and would build the scaffolding as high as necessary if they didn't surrender voluntarily.

"We talked to them some more and told them we could arrange for them to come down with dignity and on their own accord and ultimately they concurred," Harrison explained. 

The four tree-sitters were immediately arrested upon coming down and faced charges including tresspassing and violating a court order, authorities said. Five other demonstrators on the ground also were arrested after scuffles with police and faced charges including including resisting arrest and battery on a peace officer.

All those arrested were taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
 
Asked why campus police didn't try to arrest the tree-sitters earlier, Harrison said it only became feasible to put up the scaffolding to try to nab the protesters after the other trees were removed.

The protest began in late 2006 in an effort to prevent the school from clearing an oak grove to build a $125 million sports training center next to Memorial Stadium. Opponents charged that the project violated environmental and earthquake safety regulations.

Protesters cycled in an out of the trees during the early months, but were later forced into a single redwood as campus officials stepped up their eviction efforts.

After many legal battles, the school got court clearance last week to begin building. The university began tearing down trees at the construction site on Friday, the day after the state Court of Appeal rejected a request by opponents of the project to maintain an injunction that had halted work for 21 months.

By Tuesday morning, arborists had cut down 40 of the 42 trees marked for the removal. The final two that remained included the occupied redwood and another redwood officials plan to transplant.

The campus has promised to plant three new trees for every one cut.
 
The head of the tree-sitters' ground support crew, Eric Eisenberg, also known as Ayr, called Tuesday "a sad day."

Referring to the ages of the redwood tree and 40 other trees that were removed, Ayr said, "Over 3,000 years of life have been killed, a lot of life and wisdom."

A crowd of more than 300 turned out on the west side of Piedmont Avenue to watch the end of the protest — some drawn by curiosity, others to show support including one woman soliciting funds to bail the protesters out of jail.

A group of street percussionists beat on plastic buckets and water bottles, providing a steady drum beat that competed with the occasional roar of chain saws.

Among the bystanders was 3rd-year forestry major Thea Chesney. She agreed with the tree-sitters' cause, although she acknowledged that made her in the minority on campus.

"It makes me really sad," she said of the felled trees. "It's just absolutely tragic what's happened."

But Nicholas Silva, a 2004 Berkeley graduate, was not in sympathy with the tree-sitters.

"I'm glad it's over. It's been a long time coming. It should have been over several days after it started," he said.

Officials said they now hoped to have the sports training facility completely built in about 30 months.

"The true winners are our student-athletes," Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said. "This has been a difficult 21 months and I thank our fans and supporters for keeping the faith."

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