Controversy over an illegal trail in the Giacomini Open Space Preserve above Forest Knolls erupted anew Tuesday as neighbors condemned parks officials for trying to close it by axing two dozen trees.

“Bureaucrats did something way over the top,” declared Jack Gescheidt of San Geronimo. “It’s inexcusable. It’s really, really crazy in one pass to cut down 22 trees. And it didn’t accomplish the mission,” he noted, saying the trail remains in use by hikers who veer around tree debris obstacles left by the county.

Instead, Gescheidt said, officials should have posted a sign on the trail announcing a public meeting at which those opposed to cutting trees and blocking trails could have aired their concerns.

“I’m really upset,” said Gescheidt, a photographer whose Treespirit Project and website at treespiritproject.com portrays naked people communing with trees. The website has a new image called “The Killing,” showing two women sprawled over what critics called a 100-year-old fir tree cut by the county to block the trail. The two nude women are splattered with red paint.

Neighbors expressed outrage at the county’s trail closure procedure.

“I was really shocked,” declared Olivier Suzor of Forest Knolls, who said he recoiled in horror at the tree devastation. “I just walked around the tree to continue on,” he added. “It would have been great to be part of the discussion.”

Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who has walked the disputed trail with neighbors, indicated the county’s trail closure approach missed the mark because it did not engage the neighborhood beforehand.

“I personally understand and support the closure,” Kinsey said. But “is brushing and removal of trees the only way” a trail can be shut? he wondered. “I do believe the idea of engaging the community before we go in and take out trails is important,” Kinsey said. As it stands the county left the community in “shock,” Kinsey added.

“Is there a notification process?” he asked. “In the end, the only way to get (trails) to stay closed is to get community support,” the supervisor noted.

County crews closed the trail off Juniper Road last month, cutting trees and piling up other debris as a blockade under what parks officials regard as a “best practices” program. County parks officials have vowed to go back and block the trail again, noting residents have cleared some of the debris placed on the path linking the bottom of Hunt Camp to the Manzanita Fire Road.

If the county cannot keep the illegal trail closed, “it undermines one of the main tenets of the road and trails management plan” because “our ability to build or adopt new trails is directly linked to our ability to effectively close illegal trails,” senior natural resources planner Matt Sagues reported in an email several weeks ago. He asked that a crew return and that rangers and a sheriff’s deputy patrol the area “to make this a more effective closure.”

But county crews have not returned yet, and critics hope Kinsey’s commentary gives them pause to do so.

Kinsey’s commentary came at the beginning of the session, and the matter was not on the agenda for review, so officials did not respond to trail closure critics who rose to the podium at open time when the county board convened as the Open Space District board.

Vernon Huffman, president of Access4Bikes, also addressed the district board, saying he attended a county parks meeting focusing on Southern Marin trails over the weekend and was stunned to learn the county wants to shut down lots of trails — while making just “tiny little additions” to the network.

“We’re waiting for the trails to ride, and we’re not seeing it,” Huffman said, urging county supervisors to “take leadership” and make sure parks officials are “fixing the problem.”

Parks chief Linda Dahl appeared surprised by Huffman’s assessment of the first trails plan implementation meeting, saying, “I heard nothing but wonderful things about it.”