342 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

I need something closer to the A&W.

[Jackerbie]

So exactly when did this beautiful tree in the neighbourhood formerly known as Oaklands earn itself the Victoria chop?

 

Recently, I gather. It's still in the 2017 aerial photo.

 

It also still has a data point in the City GIS, which says it is City owned, not private property. Maybe it was a windstorm casualty?

Edited by Jackerbie, 11 January 2019 - 04:16 PM.

[Freedom57]

Received this in an email – for all you Tree Huggers out there:

 

Celebration of Life for the TREES at 1201 Fort Street: Sunday, January 20th, 7 - 8 p.m.

Happy 2019 to you community movers and shakers!

 

I’m writing to ask if you would each kindly share with your networks the attached invitation to attend during Sunday evening's lunar eclipse, a Celebration of Life to honour the trees at 1201 Fort Street that have served us so well for more than 100 years.

 

As 29 mature trees — 10 of which are “protected" under the Tree Preservation By-law —  are about to be sacrificed for site preparation at 1201 Fort Street, Greater Victoria’s parks and environment committee consisting of Mayor Lisa Helps, Saanich Councillor Ned Taylor and Sooke Mayor Maja Tait, is requesting that the CRD board chairperson ask all local governments in the region to declare climate emergencies. It is worth noting that Mayor Helps voted last Spring to accept Abstract’s ironically-named Bellewood Park proposal for 83 über luxury homes in place of the forest on the nearly 2-acre site.   Video marketing for the project prominently features lush greenery and even forest canopies from surrounding areas that contrast with out-of-scale (i.e., taller) new saplings in the artist renderings, many of which will be in pots to accommodate underground parking.  It is further worth noting that, according to the arborist’s report, the remaining mature trees at the Bellewood might not survive blasting and construction: “If it is found that large structural roots must be pruned… it may be necessary to remove additional trees to eliminate any risk associated with them.” 

 

The city’s data on tree loss in 2018 illustrates the depressing trend toward a declining tree population across the city due to densification as well as climate change, end-of-life span, human interference and removal on private property.  Leslie Campbell, in her feature article, Victoria’s diminishing urban forest(Focus Jan/Feb 2019 https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/janfeb2019/victorias-diminishing-urban-forest-r17/ ) reports that “In the first 9 months of 2018, the City had removed 327 trees and planted 265 trees on City property. Since then, they have removed a least a further 29 trees in Stadacona Park, adjacent to the 1400 block of Pandora Avenue, and 12 more in Fernwood.”  Yet the City’s Parks department plans to plant “only 250 to 300 new trees per year (which does not even replace on a one-to-one basis recent removals of mature trees from City-owned land. And on private land, only certain tree removals need to be accompanied with replanting of, at most, two saplings.” (Focus)

 

Leslie Campbell opines that the “biggest gap in the tree bylaw is that in practice, it fails to protect any tree when their removal is deemed 'necessary for the purpose of constructing a building, an addition to a building, or construction of an accessory building' or a driveway, off-street parking, utilities services connections, or 'the installation, repair, or maintenance of public works.’ “

 

 

All at what cost to the climate? Grace Golightly of the Community Trees Matter Network cites in the above Focus article, research from Ohio State University suggesting that it would take “ .. a total of 269 two-inch-diameter trees to replace the carbon sequestration provided by a single 36-inch mid-sized tree.” So much for the effectiveness of those two-inch saplings in protecting us from climate change.  Also in the Focus article, Golightly adds that “I think it’s essential that the City purchase well-treed properties that come up for sale. They can either be covenanted and re-sold, or made into mini-parks where more trees could be planted to increase the carbon storage and benefits to the neighbourhood.” Her position aligns with Victoria’s pre-real estate boom, Urban Forest Master Plan, that states, “The single greatest impact to the urban forest comes from the incremental loss of green space associated with development and densification (and that) as land use change and neighbourhoods are redeveloped, it is critical to ensure that adequate greenspace is being reallocated on-site or elsewhere to sustain the future urban forest.” Yet, in spite of the UFMB, urban forest expansion has not happened in tandem with development. In fact, according to Campbell, most of the UFMP’s 26 recommendations have not beenimplemented.

 

This Sunday, January 20th, we will celebrate with tributes, poems, songs, musical instruments and love, the many gifts that the trees have given us: fresh oxygen, carbon capture and storage, beauty, serenity, shelter for wildlife, enhanced biodiversity, flood control, water table preservation, a buffer from wind and noise, shade in the summer and in general, relief from the urban environment.  We also hope to express a sense of urgency for a needed change of direction at City Hall.

 

Thanks in advance for your assistance in circulating the attached invitation.

 

Warm regards,

 

Geanine Robey & Nancy McGregor, Tree Huggers

[Nparker]

I am sure the soon-to-be-felled trees will appreciate the poems. If this appeared anywhere but Victoria I would have assumed it was a story from The Onion. Is there a reason all the flakiness in the country eventually makes its way to southern Vancouver Island?

[Victoria Watcher]

All at what cost to the climate?

 

 

let's not be so silly as to think a tree or 100 or 10,000 removed here or there makes a difference.

 

 

Canada has 318 billion trees (8,953 trees per person)

 

 

http://greenblizzard...-in-the-canada/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 19 January 2019 - 02:11 PM.

[Bernard]

Cutting down mature trees and replacing them with new ones is a very effective way to capture carbon as mature trees are in a steady state and no longer taking in as much carbon as they release.   The cut-down trees will release their stored carbon over time through rotting over a long time ( though if burned it is much faster).

 

Honestly, cutting trees down and making them into lumber is one of the best ways to capture and store carbon

[AllseeingEye]

Although I don't know them and I'm sure they're good people I would be curious to know if, during the course of construction of the house/condo/apartment(s) that Geanine Robey & Nancy McGregor live in, trees were felled in order to accommodate the building of said structure.....

[Nparker]

...I would be curious to know if, during the course of construction of the house/condo/apartment(s) that Geanine Robey & Nancy McGregor live in, trees were felled in order to accommodate the building of said structure.....

Presumably their homes float above the tree canopy and are made entirely out of dreams, hugs, and rainbows, gently held together by hair from a unicorn's tail (hair voluntarily contributed of course).

[sam]

Cutting down mature trees and replacing them with new ones is a very effective way to capture carbon as mature trees are in a steady state and no longer taking in as much carbon as they release.   The cut-down trees will release their stored carbon over time through rotting over a long time ( though if burned it is much faster).

 

Honestly, cutting trees down and making them into lumber is one of the best ways to capture and store carbon

 

Are you sure about that? You might want to read this, published in Nature. That study looked at 403 tree species and showed that “for most species mass growth rate increases continuously with tree size. Thus, large, old trees do not act simply as senescent carbon reservoirs but actively fix large amounts of carbon compared to smaller trees; at the extreme, a single big tree can add the same amount of carbon to the forest within a year as is contained in an entire mid-sized tree.”

 

Moreover, sequoias (and red cedar, for instance) can live for thousands of years. Douglas firs often live  600 to 800 years. I doubt that any house built of those woods will store that carbon for thousands of years.

 

Read more about the Tree Network's motivation and other issues facing our diminishing urban forest here.

 

David Broadland

[DustMagnet]

29 trees sacrificed for Bellewood Park, "... a unique opportunity to experience nature ..."?

 

Not only is that ironic but it makes the sacrifice of a mere 2 trees for the Wharf St. bike lanes seem less of a big deal.

[Mike K.]

Nature sacrificed tens of thousands of trees on Vancouver Island a few weeks ago.

[DustMagnet]

That's the beauty of nature.  Anything humans do is garbage.  For reasons.

[Rob Randall]

Ned Taylor - Saanich Councillor & CRD Director

 

Last night, I voted against a motion requesting a report from staff with options for a temporary tree cutting moratorium. Here's why:

 

Although I appreciate the good intentions of the motion, I am deeply concerned about the massive implications a tree cutting moratorium would have on our community.

 

For example, if a tree is dying and about to fall on someone's home, it needs to be safely removed. It is my understanding that a blanket moratorium would not allow any trees, even in this circumstance, to be removed.

 

I am also concerned about the potential legal challenges that could face our municipality. Not to mention that Saanich Staff are already working on a biodiversity strategy that could improve protection for trees and our natural environment. The proposed tree cutting moratorium would cause the very staff who are working on a biodiversity strategy, to stop their work on that file and instead work on a tree cutting moratorium. I would rather see those staff work on a comprehensive, long-term piece of policy to protect our trees and natural environment for decades to come, and that's exactly what the biodiversity strategy has the potential to do.

 

As a number of Saanich residents mentioned last night, we are in a climate emergency, we need better protection for our trees and natural environment, but in my view a tree cutting moratorium is not the right approach.

 

Thank you,

Ned Taylor

[Mattjvd]

Ned Taylor - Saanich Councillor & CRD Director

 

Last night, I voted against a motion requesting a report from staff with options for a temporary tree cutting moratorium. Here's why:

 

Although I appreciate the good intentions of the motion, I am deeply concerned about the massive implications a tree cutting moratorium would have on our community.

 

For example, if a tree is dying and about to fall on someone's home, it needs to be safely removed. It is my understanding that a blanket moratorium would not allow any trees, even in this circumstance, to be removed.

 

I am also concerned about the potential legal challenges that could face our municipality. Not to mention that Saanich Staff are already working on a biodiversity strategy that could improve protection for trees and our natural environment. The proposed tree cutting moratorium would cause the very staff who are working on a biodiversity strategy, to stop their work on that file and instead work on a tree cutting moratorium. I would rather see those staff work on a comprehensive, long-term piece of policy to protect our trees and natural environment for decades to come, and that's exactly what the biodiversity strategy has the potential to do.

 

As a number of Saanich residents mentioned last night, we are in a climate emergency, we need better protection for our trees and natural environment, but in my view a tree cutting moratorium is not the right approach.

 

Thank you,

Ned Taylor

Very reasonable response. Kudos to the young Councillor.

[Nparker]

Sounds like it's time to launch a class action suit against the manufacturers of saws and axes.

[exc911ence]

Tree hugging environmentalists vs. bike riding environmentalists...

 

https://vancouverisl...-fire-1.4264510

[Nparker]

Tree hugging environmentalists vs. bike riding environmentalists...

[rjag]

Tree hugging environmentalists vs. bike riding environmentalists...

 

https://vancouverisl...-fire-1.4264510

 

Now if it was only a Poinsettia Tree....with a strange likeness to Sir John A

Edited by rjag, 22 January 2019 - 08:24 PM.

[DustMagnet]

Aaaaaaand... it's gone.

 

 

‘Heart of the city’ tree comes down in Victoria

 

https://www.vicnews....wn-in-victoria/

[Nparker]

Since the "heart of the city" has been removed, presumably the CoV's death is imminent?

 

At least we know definitely which lobby group has the greater pull at City Hall.

Edited by Nparker, 28 January 2019 - 12:21 PM.