Street Tree Preservation

I ventured over town this past week, for a gardening day at Bev's ("over town" being north shore terminology for crossing bridges to big city Vancouver). I don't do this often, but Bev used to live over here and moved to one of my favourite neighbourhoods (Commercial Drive) so I broke my rule about crossing bridges... Here she is, backlit with the East 6th Elms (and Baggins the Scoot).

One of the nice things about being "over town" is the profusion of avenues lined with magnificent old hardwoood trees. I love riding through the cool tunnels of over-arching branches in the summer, and the lace-work of bare branches in the winter is a relief from linear concrete.

In fact, just last week, I was taking pics of trees for painting-references...

...and I think I took this one of the Hornbeams somewhere near West Broadway because the pruning of the trees around the hydro lines on the right side seemed so drastic, however necessary.

So this week, the topic came around to the East 6th Ave neighbourhood fight to save their elms, 31 of which were pronounced unstable by the Vancouver Parks Board and slated for removal.

The local community stepped up and challenged the assessment, demanding a more discriminating process with a much higher priority to preserve the treescape. As a result, the number of trees slated for immediate removal was reduced to six!

Thanks to this community action, the Vancouver Parks Board is revising their street tree management plan in consultation with local residents, formally recognizing the environmental, heritage and community value of trees.

I thought I'd include a truncated list (pardon the pun) from the East 6th Elm Fact Sheet, to remind us all of the wide-ranging benefits of street-trees. Their reference is "Planting Our Future - A Tree Toolkit for Communities' published by the Union of BC Municipalities, 2008.

Trees:

Create livable communites

Are good for business

Encourage people to visit

Reduce stormwater costs

Prolong the life of pavement

Make communities safer

Provide recreational and educational opportunities

Increase property values

Provide stress relief

Reduce noise

Support biodiversity

Support ecosystem function

Help protect streams and aquatic habitats

Conserve and enhance soil productivity

Support sustainable transportation

Improve air quality

Provide air to breathe

Improve water quality

Reduce the heat island effect

Reduce energy bills