Yaletown boulevard trees are thirsty and dying, say residents
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2019 02:18:08 +0000
Residents of Yaletown worried about the increasing number of sickly trees near their high-rise condos and are calling on the City of Vancouver to save the trees before more of them are lost.
“Some of them are already dead, they’re d-e-a-d,” said David Ware, who lives on Helmcken and said he has noticed more trees with bare limbs and discoloured leaves in his neighbourhood and in Olympic Village.
For the past couple of summers, Ware had been watering two of the distressed trees, but “this year, it really took off” and the entire row of trees on the west side of Richards Street between Smithe and Nelson needed help and he couldn’t keep up.
“It’s become super noticeable” that the mature maples are in trouble, he said. “They’re turning brown and they’re horrible.”
Of the more than dozen trees on the block, eight appear to have “early leaf drop,” and others also looked distressed and had slow-release water bags at their base, although those had no water in them. There are four former tree spots on the boulevard covered in asphalt.
A short tour of a small area of the neighbourhood by Postmedia turned up two other blocks where at least half and sometimes all the trees were sickly or bare, including West 12th Avenue between Cambie and Ash streets, across from City Hall.
Ware, said he has left the city a message on its website but hasn’t heard back. “Hopefully, someone at City Hall will sit up and take notice.”
The city, through its urban forest strategy, is 24,000 trees shy of its 10-year goal of planting 150,000 trees by 2020 to increase the city’s canopy.
But it doesn’t know how many of those trees survive, or how many more mature trees die each year.
“This data is not actively tracked,” said spokeswoman Barb Floden in an email.
The city couldn’t provide costs for the new trees. The website said it costs $20,000 to replace a mature tree.
The new trees are kept watered by park board staff — seven crews in water trucks — and residents are encouraged to water nearby trees, said Floden.
Be a tree guardian this summer! Water street trees if you see signs of stress like wilting leaves, or early leaf drop. Water for 5 minutes 2-3 times a week. Tips for tree care: https://t.co/LC4hScd2iw #ThirstyTrees pic.twitter.com/tWcPUoOQHg
In a tweet this week, the park board asked residents to water city trees “if you see signs of stress, like wilting leaves or early leaf drop” for five minutes, two to three times a week, and to join its tree guardian program.
The city also provides slow-release watering bags to those requesting them through 311 and “residents are then able to assist with watering,” said Floden.
“They are filled two times per week,” she said, but it wasn’t clear who is responsible for refilling them.
Tallyn Simpson, who recently moved into a rental suite in the Yaletown block with the dying trees, admitted she hadn’t paid attention to them before they were pointed out to her.
“It’s definitely sad. Trees are so important, especially considering what’s happening with the (Amazon) rainforest” that is on fire this week. Trees are “something we take pride of in Vancouver.”
Alfred Fischbach, sitting on a patio near another line of dead and dying trees outside Urban Fare in Yaletown, said the city should call in experts because “maybe they’re diseased or they’re the wrong kind of trees” for Vancouver.
He said Vancouver has more trees than a lot of cities, “but (city officials) can’t just plant them and forget about them.”
UBC forest professor Stephen Sheppard said trees in Metro Vancouver and elsewhere were affected by dry conditions during the last two summers and can expect to be further jeopardized “due in part to climate change.”
He said he has seen similar trees in the city and suburbs, but says there is little data because there have been no studies, academic or municipal.
“I’m sure the park board probably knows about (the problem) and I’m sure they’re very worried about it,” he said.
He said there are a number of factors that could kill trees, including how densification makes it difficult for rootballs of mature trees to find water.
As Vancouver’s urban forest strategy notes, “As Vancouver grows and densifies, the extent of hard surfaces increases and less water can permeate down into the soil” and that limits space to plant new trees, soil for all trees and rainwater storage.
“I think there are situations where (trees) are affected by densification,” said Sheppard. “How do you maintain and increase the canopy when you’re expanding the footprint of buildings?”
More has to be done to encourage residents to take responsibility for neighbourhood trees, including those near residential towers. Stratas can commit to keeping trees watered during summer by arranging schedules for members, for instance.
Suggestions for helping nurture urban forests can be found through the Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning’s “Coolkit,” available online, and the organization will be taking part in the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation one-day gathering about climate change and urban forestry at Riley Park on Aug. 31.