A grove of giant eucalyptus trees that became the focus of a wildly expensive name-calling contest in Larkspur is being chopped down to the dismay of the property owner who has fought for years to save her beloved trees.

Tree cutters with ropes and chain saws were swinging in the air lopping off chunks of wood on Anne Wolff's property Friday, but the work is only a little more than halfway done after two weeks of logging.

Neighbors argue that the 45 trees on Wolff's property - two dozen of which are between 90 and 110 feet tall - pose a danger to the neighborhood. They took her to court to get her to remove them, prompting a neighborhood dispute the likes of which most lawyers only dream.

"They are totally healthy trees," cried Wolff, as she stood in her yard watching the workers cut limbs, saw and chip wood. "I'm losing the shade, the privacy and the reason me and my husband bought the property. ... They are turning this into a concrete jungle all because they did not want to rake leaves."

The imbroglio has generated widespread interest around the Bay Area, where fast-growing eucalyptus trees are alternately blamed for spreading fire and hailed for storing carbon. The case also raises the issue of how far people can go in regulating the behavior of their neighbors. To what extent are property owners responsible for protecting people from the forces of nature?

Wolff, a clinical psychologist, said she built her home in 1996 on Bayview Avenue, in the Palm Hill area of the city, because she fell in love with the grove, which covers about a third of an acre.

The trees, all Tasmanian blue gums, or Eucalyptus globulus, are fast-growing aliens from Australia. They grow up to 180 feet tall, live for 300 years and are notoriously flammable.

Besides the fire danger, Wolff's next-door neighbor, Michael Mindel, said the trees regularly drop branches and debris, endangering their children and property. Arborists hired by the Mindels declared the trees hazardous and recommended their removal.

Mindel, the senior vice president of marketing and part owner of the Italian restaurant chain Il Fornaio, said he offered to pay $50,000 to remove the trees and landscape the area, but Wolff refused even to talk to him about it. So he, his wife, Joni, and neighbors Catherine and Lawrence Way, filed a lawsuit against Wolff in 2007 to force her to eliminate the danger.

Marin County Superior Court Judge Michael Dufficy ruled in May 2009 that the trees were a hazard and ordered the parties to split three ways the cost of removal. The state Court of Appeal in San Francisco affirmed Dufficy's decision in April and the California Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Wolff refused to cut the trees until she was dragged back into court and ordered to get it done by Oct. 2 or she would be in contempt. Foresters are cutting all the large trees and leaving only saplings.

"We're very relieved that at least the work has begun and that we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel, but we're right at the height of fire season right now and we're not out of the woods yet, if you'll excuse the pun," said Barri Kaplan Bonapart, who represented the Mindel and Way families.

In fact, the ill will appears to be sprouting new limbs.

The Mindels and Ways plan to ask the judge on Monday to sanction Wolff for missing the Oct. 2 deadline and to order her to pay for their court costs dating back to the original ruling over a year ago.

"She has been using these delays as a vehicle to publicly malign her neighbors and the court by displaying disparaging signs on her property," Bonapart said.

Wolff is threatening to sue for harassment, claiming her fence was deliberately broken, her protest signs were stolen and lacrosse balls have been maliciously thrown onto her property.

"The case is over," she said, "but I don't think we're going to be on the best of terms."