'Death warrant' for majestic maple trees near UBC sparks controversy
Credit to Author: Matt Robinson| Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:47:36 +0000
Residents in the University Endowment Lands, a small, unincorporated community tucked between Vancouver and the University of B.C., are dismayed by plans to axe dozens of large maple trees in the area.
Chris Wall, who has lived for 17 years on the same block as many of the broad, leafy trees, said he fears the community administrators are committed to seeing them gone despite what residents think about the idea.
“The death warrant’s been signed,” Wall said in an interview this week. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
Wall said residents have started a petition aimed at reversing what they see as an arbitrary decision to remove the trees, and he said some are prepared to go as far as chaining themselves to the trees to keep them standing.
Jonn Braman, the manager of the endowment lands, said he believes the trees are putting people at risk and for that reason he has told community members they need to be replaced.
“Public safety is the priority,” Braman said in an email.
“The trees are located on public boulevards, are mature and of grand stature, but there has been a couple of near misses with major branches falling and a tree splitting in half. Drought, severe storms and disease are taking a toll.”
Braman said he plans to replace the trees over the next few years. The endowment lands has contracted a certified arborist to evaluate which trees should be removed first, and some are already out, he said.
Chris Wall near his house on Westbrook Crescent in the University Endowment Lands on Wednesday. ‘They’re beautiful trees,’ he says of large, leafy maples. ‘The trees provide us with CO2 absorption, privacy from the development at UBC, from sound pollution and noise, and valuable shade on the street.’
Wall said he understood crews would not proceed to cut more trees down until February at the earliest, but that they were instructed to remove 15 trees per year. Wall has counted a total of 65 that are designated to be removed.
Braman did not respond to further questions about the plans or confirm those numbers, but did say he is aware that residents have expressed concern and disagreement over the idea.
For Wall, the best-case scenario would be that the remaining trees be retained and carefully pruned.
“They’re beautiful trees,” he said. “The trees provide us with CO2 absorption, privacy from the development at UBC, from sound pollution and noise, and valuable shade on the street.”
Unlike many jurisdictions in B.C., the University Endowment Lands has no elected council. Rather, the community of 4,000 is governed by the province and administered by its manager who is appointed by the minister of municipal affairs. Staff at that ministry referred all questions on the tree matter to Braman.
The endowment lands is also part of Metro Vancouver, but the regional authority does not manage trees in the community beyond those found in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, which covers nearly 65 per cent of the endowment lands’ 1,200 hectares, said Marcin Pachcinski, division manager of electoral area and environment at Metro. Last year, Metro completed a report on tree canopy cover and loss in the region and is now working on resources to help its member jurisdictions manage their urban forests, Pachcinski said.
A constituency assistant for David Eby said the area MLA was unable to respond to a request for comment.
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