Save Black-oak Nine

Like the trees that inhabit them, cities have life. They spread out, rise up and now, thanks to the environmentally sound logic behind urban intensification, smart cities increase their population along major transit routes.

So the proposed Daniels Corp. condominium building across from High Park, a few steps from a Bloor St. subway station, should be a nice fit with Toronto’s desire to increase its housing stock. It’s all good, except for one problem — nine trees, part of a rare black-oak savannah, will die to make way for the condos.

As the Star’s Joe Fiorito reports, those 200-year-old oaks are the ecological soul of the urban forest in High Park. Theirs will be a devastating loss, not just because they create a buffer for migratory birds but because they ensure the genetic health of the oak trees in the vast city park.

The trees shouldn’t have to end their lives as firewood but the company is adamant that their time is up to make room for the large building.

Their fate rests on the outcome of a building rezoning application before the Ontario Municipal Board. As urban forestry expert Jack Radecki says he told the hearing, “These are pioneer oaks; they were there long before man arrived and put down roads and houses.”

When the OMB makes its decision, we hope it appreciates the nuances of nature, how one seemingly small act can have a resoundingly negative impact a few streets away. All we are saying is give trees a chance. After all, they’re tough old oaks, around since the Americans picked the wrong adversary in the War of 1812. They even survived prohibition of booze in Bloor West Village, and that didn’t end until the 1990s.

The Black-Oak Nine have lived long enough to see their city planning department get smart and embrace intensified development, the kind that ends tree-killing sprawl in the suburbs. So it’s a bitter irony that environmentally astute policy is behind their threatened demise.

Their fate now rests with the OMB adjudicators. We know they don’t talk to the public so let us speak to them:

Save the Black-Oak Nine. They’re part of High Park’s storied past, and given a chance they’ll probably outlive us all.