Victoria’s tree canopy could become tinder box

As I look out of our kitchen window, I see a beautiful view of the Olympic Mountains, but I see few houses or even roofs. I am looking at what environmentalists call the tree canopy. They have attached such importance to this canopy that they have pressured local politicians that it absolutely must be preserved. So now people are forbidden to cut down or even prune or trim their own trees without a permit.

We normally have a hot, dry summer. We have little rain and are much drier than Vancouver. This is natural but, presumably, global warming will make Victoria even hotter and drier than it already is. What effect are these conditions — and now especially, global warming — going to have on the tree canopy?

Then I read about the disaster in Fort McMurray. The canopy suddenly looked less like a sheltering canopy and more like a tinder box, one that is getting dangerously bigger every year because trees keep growing.

It would be foolish to blindly believe that even a small-scale wildfire can’t possibly happen here. People’s lives are more important than trees, are they not?

It would be a good start to repeal all the trendy bylaws that forbid people to cut down their own trees. Another good step would be encourage the removal of all old, oversized and crowded trees that could pose an extra fire risk.

Greater Victoria clearly needs to heed the lesson of Fort McMurray.

Herbert Thornton Victoria