NEW ORLEANS -- A small crowd of sympathizers opposed to construction of a championship-caliber golf course in City Park gathered outside the massive fence while two people camped out in a tree to protest the development.

The supporters handed out literature for their cause while a man named Lloyd and a woman calling herself Heart were in the tree.

The pair said they don't want trees torn down for the golf course. They said they have been threatened with arrest and told fire trucks will be called to remove them if they don't come down voluntarily.

They put a "Wild is free" bed sheet on display and set up housekeeping of sorts. By phone, they described a pretty rough living, clinging to the bridges, sleeping in hammoks and using a bucket for bathroom.

"We want kids to come here and see what nature is like, because this is, like, one of the only escapes in New Orleans for them," Heart said.

City Park CEO Bob Becker said the golf course protesters in the tree are trespassing, but they won't be forced down.

"We're certainly not looking to take them out of the tree. They are trespassing in an active construction site. It's not safe for them on the site or certainly in the tree, and our hope is they will have some common sense and come out of the tree," Becker said.

The protest exhausted Heart, and she gave up by mid-afternoon, climbing out of the tree. But Lloyd hung on, and member of the City Park for Everyone Coalition cheered on their fight to stop the golf course.

Behind a fence that stretches for acres along Wisner Boulevard, construction is set to begin a of a new golf course, nearly a decade after the old course was damaged by Hurricane Katrina."I see people that are brave and they are standing up for the public's right to know these trees are being torn down," said one person witnessing the protest.

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