It’s your tree, but we’re all interested in it

At first I was surprised to read about the Kitchener residents who got angry with a developer for cutting down trees on a nearby property.

One woman yelled for the chainsaws to stop, and got into a verbal dispute with one of the workers.

Yet all he was doing was removing the trees — legally — by permission of the owner.

And, I thought, he was right to tell the protesting neighbour not to get emotionally attached to someone else’s tree.

The neighbours are understandably sad to lose the shade and privacy that these mature maple and cedar trees offered in their unique and charming Schneider Creek neighbourhood near downtown.

The developer, Vlad Knezevic, is in the process of purchasing the lot at 86 Whitney Pl. to create a couple of homes on it. The seller gave her permission for him to cut down the trees. He has to get rid of them so he can build.

On one level, he is doing exactly what local political leaders want to see. Creating more intensively packed housing in the centre of the cities is part of what must happen for an urban area to grow without encroaching on the green space and farmland beyond its borders.

On another level, the number and size of trees in the community where we live is of compelling public interest. They absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants. As detailed in the City of Kitchener’s Urban Forest Strategy, they also encourage physical activity, cool us down in summer, absorb rainfall, offer a habitat for wildlife, and improve soil quality.

So cities and townships are measuring the size of the “canopy” (the amount of space the trees take up when viewed from above) and aiming for trees to cover a certain percentage of the municipality’s footprint.

Toronto and Guelph are aiming for 40 per cent tree cover. Hamilton and Cambridge are aiming for 30 per cent.

Rural parts of Waterloo Region, with their agricultural base, have less tree cover than the cities. Woolwich Township, for example, has 14 per cent coverage, while Cambridge and Kitchener are at 27 per cent.

Kitchener has been growing its canopy despite the challenges of climate change, development and invasive species that kill trees. It has a law protecting certain trees on private property, as does Cambridge. But Cambridge’s law is stricter.

If Knezevic had been operating in Cambridge, he would have had to get a permit from the city to bring those trees down.

Kitchener’s bylaw doesn’t protect trees on lots that are less than an acre in size. That’s why removing the tree on Whitney Place was legal.

That said, the City of Kitchener “is very interested in protecting trees,” said Niall Lobley, the city’s director of parks and cemeteries.

A 27 per cent canopy is “a good canopy in comparison to many other Ontario cities, but we certainly have room to grow. Increasing canopy sustainably is a long-term action delivered over decades rather than the short term, so does require support,” he said.

“We will see as these discussions start later this year what appetite there is for growth in the urban canopy over time.”

A decision to protect and increase the urban forest might include stricter laws to protect mature trees on small parcels of land in the inner city.

Perhaps that will be necessary as we start seeing trees as an essential public resource, even when privately owned.

But if it’s going to protect trees over property rights, then the city will need to explain what it’s doing when it removes trees from public places.

For example, some people are still very unhappy about what happened to Vogelsang Green at Queen and Duke streets in downtown.

For decades it was a tiny, lush oasis of mature trees, shrubs and wildlife.

After the city renovated, it became a concrete desert with saplings and a few strings of lights. Vogelsang means “birdsong” in German, but that now exists in name only.

Lobley said six trees were removed for that project, three of which were in failing health. Nine new trees have been planted in the area and better growing conditions have been created.

“Downtown is certainly a challenging environment for managing trees,” he said.