Clear-cutting shocks residents
About 70 mature trees removed near Lachine Canal for bike path
Residents who live near the Lachine Canal say they watched in disbelief as a company working for Parks Canada clear-cut a tract of about 70 mature trees during the past week to make way for a new bike path.
“They were beautiful,” said Richard Bourhis, who took photos and alerted his condo neighbours when he spotted crews chopping limbs and an excavator tearing the remaining tree stumps out of the ground between Georges-Vanier Blvd. and des Seigneurs St. on his morning walk last Thursday.
“It was so sudden that nobody could get together to form a committee and stop them.”
The crews were back to take down more trees on Friday and again this past Tuesday and Wednesday.
Parks Canada announced on Aug. 7 that it will build a onekilometre-long bike path on the north side of the canal, just east of Atwater Market, to add to the existing network along the waterway.
But it didn’t warn that part of the $6-million project involved clearcutting what is indicated on maps as green space in the continuation of Eclusiers Park.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Tracey Stevens, who lives across the street from where the stands of trees were felled.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me that they would take all those trees down for a bike path. We, as neighbours, had no idea of the plan. Clearing a few bushes, I understand, but these were fabulous trees.”
Bourhis said he’s not against a new bike path, but said the swath that was clearcut is more than 10 times as wide as the future fourmetre-wide bike path.
However, Parks Canada, which manages the national historic site, says it has to “remove certain vegetation in the sector, including mature trees” to carry out the project that will “enhance the experience of the visitor to the canal.”
“Parks Canada locations have to combine the interests of environmental protection with those of the visitor’s experience,” agency spokesperson Audrey Godin-Champagne said in a written response.
“The agency successfully manages this integration and works to ensure the ecological integrity of these sites while offering services and enriching experiences for visitors.”
Along with the one-kilometre stretch of new bike path, Parks Canada will construct a building with public washrooms and a gathering area just west of Des Seigneurs as part of the project, Godin-Champagne wrote.
The project is part of $170 million that Parks Canada has announced as upgrades to the Lachine Canal during the next five years.
Of the 70 trees cut down between des Seigneurs and Georges-Vanier, Godin-Champagne wrote, more than one-third were identified by Parks Canada’s experts as “in decline, sick or damaged.”
An environmental impact study was carried out and a biologist visited the site to ensure there were no nests or birds breeding, she also wrote. Parks Canada will plant 114 trees and grass “in places that are judged appropriate” during the next year, she added.
However, Bourhis said he didn’t see any sick trees among the trunks that were piled up on the site. Having lived in the area for 12 years, he said most of the trees “were quite healthy, though many needed proper pruning, which Parks Canada never cared to do between 2006 and 2018.”
“Did you want to get the community involved?” Stevens asked, referring to Parks Canada. “It’s disheartening.”
Parks Canada locations have to combine the interests of environmental protection with those of the visitor’s experience.