I hate the abuses of eminent domain and there have been many, but there must be more to the story than what we are getting.
The article doesn't mention the exact compensation, just that the homeowner wants "fair compensation". Well what is fair compensation for this? Does a homeowner ever think compensation is fair in eminent domain cases? probably not. We need to know the compensation and the average price /acre for the surrounding land.
Second, the owners want to protect a "grove of 250 trees". The article makes the impression that they are a homegrown maple syrup farm and that these are productive maple trees, but it never mentioned how many are maple trees, if they are tapped and how much maple syrup they make. Based on the numbers from
http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/FAQ.htm, even if the 250 trees are all working maple trees, then the most they produce would be about 115 gallons of maple syrup. Maple syrup is hardly their bread and butter.
If these were pine trees they were looking to cut down would anyone bat an eye?