VANCOUVER TREE-CUTTING LEAVES OFFICIAL ‘DUMBFOUNDED’
Loggers are supposed to ply their trade in the woods, not on West 29th Avenue in Vancouver.
But someone with saw skills took down 17 maples in the 500-block West 29th some time between midnight and 5 a.m. on Jan. 7, and the Vancouver parks board is intent on finding the culprit.
The city’s manager of urban forestry, Howard Normann, visited the scene and was caught off-guard.
“I don’t get it,” he recalls thinking.
The trees, which were planted in 2010, were about 4½- to six-metres tall and their trunks were about 10 to 15 centimetres wide. Norman said they were all cut down between waist and knee height, except for one that was close to a trailer on a nearby construction site.
“I’m a bit dumbfounded ... ,” said Normann, who’s pretty sure it wasn’t done to improve anyone’s view. “This isn’t a view corridor.”
There has been other vandalism against trees, including an infamous poisoning incident in the West End, but Normann called the maple massacre “unprecedented.” Normann estimated the loss to be in excess of $10,000 — which covers the value of the trees and the cost of the cleanup.
Vancouver police were contacted and interviewed neighbours, but there have been no leads. There had been no complaints about the trees to the city’s 311 service line.
Normann doesn’t think a chainsaw was used because someone would have heard the racket.
Edith Branter has lived near West 29th and Cambie for the past 56 years. The neighbourhood is a quiet one with little interaction between neighbours, she told The Province. From her front door, there are two knee-high stumps in view, one directly in front of her lawn, and another just across the street. Branter, 87, said area residents had no say about the planting of the maple trees.
She noted 29th Avenue is a bike path, and often used as a major route by first responders.
“The trees grow, and the leaves fall and it rains, and then you’ve got to clean up the street again,” she said, suggesting someone may have cut down the trees to prevent a mess of leaves and debris.
Normann said the maples were planted to replace existing crabapple trees that are in decline on the street’s large boulevard.
“It was a bit of a pre-emptive planting,” explained Normann.
But someone decided there was a need for some pre-emptive pruning. First-term parks commissioner Catherine Evans tweeted out a plea for information after visiting the site.
“It was a pretty sad sight,” said Evans.