A northern California couple was ordered to pay nearly $600,000 after uprooting a 180-year-old tree for their new home – ultimately killing the heritage oak – a judge ruled.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Patrick Broderick issued the ruling in April, which was finalized last week, and sided with a nonprofit that sued the couple for the damage they caused to the tree and other vegetation on the property protected under a conservation easement.

In 2014, Sonoma Land Trust Stewardship Director Bob Neale went to visit the recently bulldozed property, he told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

He had seen photos of the damage, but "it’s nothing compared to actually seeing it," he told the newspaper. "I was not prepared."

Three thousand cubic yards of dirt and rock had been removed from the previously undisturbed 34-acre property, court records show. The couple removed the tree so it could be placed on an adjoining plot of land with their new home.

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The oak was bound, a road was bulldozed through and a dozen other trees and vegetation were uprooted, according to court documents.

Much of the vegetation, including the 180-year-old oak and two other trees, died, yet none of the work was done with a permit on the protected land, court records show.

"It was really the most willful, egregious violation of a conservation easement I’ve ever seen," Neale told the Press Democrat.

Broderick apparently agreed.

In his ruling, he wrote that the landowners, Peter and Toni Thompson, "knowingly and intentionally" violated the conservation rules. The couple "demonstrated an arrogance and complete disregard for the mandatory terms of the easement," he added.

The couple was ordered to pay over $586,000 but are filing a new lawsuit, saying the damage was not intentional.

"They went into this area because they appreciated the pastoral nature of it, the scenic beauty of it," Richard Freeman, the couple's new attorney, told the Washington Post. "They wouldn’t have wanted to do anything that was going to cause harm, damage or scar it."

"There are so many personal tragic issues throughout this case that were very painful to deal with and actually really affected the ability to tell our side of the story," Peter Thompson told the Press Democrat. "In our opinion, there's a lot of evidence that our side of the story really didn’t get a chance to explain."

Neale told the Santa Rosa newspaper that when the Thompsons bought the property they were made aware of the conservation easement and the terms of the deal.

When he first learned that they wanted to move the trees, he said his group tried working with them for months to resolve the issue before going to court.

Contributing: The Associated Press.

Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller.