Photo by Frances Litman
I recently stood before the Victoria City council and mayor to urge them to implement the Recommended Actions of the URBAN FOREST MASTER PLAN of 2013 and that leaders of the local Indigenous Nations of Esquimalt and Songhees be invited to participate in this work.
Affordable HOUSING a green and livable HABITAT must be part of Victoria’s Strategic Plan.
The U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT of Oct. 2018 requires that we ACT NOW to address rapid changes in our climate. The benefits of trees are well known – our resource of biodiversity and our habitat, they provide carbon sequestration, transpiration and cooling shade as temperatures rise, flood control during storms and heavy winter rainfall, reduction of pollutants in air and local waters, energy use reduction, and human mental and physical well-being.
By implementing the Urban Forest Master Plan, which is related to the Strategic Goals of the CRD, we can mitigate and adapt to climate change, IF we respond in a timely fashion.
Recommendation #1 is the creation of an Urban Forest Plan COORDINATOR. Allocating financial resources to this position is VITAL.
Victoria’s tree CANOPY stands at 18%, with areas under 10% Downtown, in Harris Green, Burnside and North Park. Like Saanich and Vancouver we need to offer trees for planting on private property in many low canopy areas. Rockland has a tree canopy of 33%, thanks in large part to the Garry Oak meadow at Government House.
Let me take you on a walk around the block where I live. On Moss St, a Garry Oak blew over in a storm, its roots soggy from over-watering. Garry Oaks are drought tolerant except in infancy. At Moss and Rockland a 350 yr. old Garry Oak was cut down, it’s roots too close to homes on either side. At Langham Court a healthy 162 yr old Giant Sequoia was taken down because it’s roots were entwined with a sewer pipe. Around the corner on Linden, apartment balconies face a wasteland through standing dead trees, the first phase of a development. At 1201 Fort St. this luxury condo and townhouse development with underground private garages will destroy 29 mature trees including a remnant Garry Oak meadow, Giant Sequoias and other protected trees. Up the street at Central Middle School a large Garry Oak fell in a windstorm, its trunk on Dept. of Education land, and roots full of concrete on land beneath a public sidewalk.
I counted 33 TREES LOST in one square block. Don’t let this happen in your neighbourhood!!
We must take a stand for our communities. We need to add trees to our canopy, not destroy them. The Urban Forest Master plan recommends that development design address these objectives, and that oversight be improved to ensure that these guidelines are met.
Victoria’s Tree Preservation Bylaw of 2005 must be revised, a recommendation of the Urban Forest Master Plan. Protected tree cutting PERMITS cost $30, and are replaced with sticks with roots. 1 in 5 fail to survive. In 13 years, the Tree Preservation Bylaw SIGNIFICANT TREE designation has no trees listed. Saanich has 150 trees on it’s list with clear application instructions for homeowners and 50% of costs for annual tree maintenance paid in grants.
Let us implement the Urban forest Master Plan NOW and begin to recreate HABITAT along with HOUSING.