A Vancouver Park Board employee used a tree spade to dig up a seven-to-10-year-old cherry tree planted near the tracks on Arbutus Corridor at 57th Avenue Wednesday morning.
It was the first of about 25 large fruit trees the park board is relocating to McCleery Golf Course by the Fraser River, using heavy equipment, to save them from removal by Canadian Pacific crews.
CP resumed clearing its property along Arbutus Corridor Feb. 10, not long after the Supreme Court of B.C. dismissed a City of Vancouver application for an injunction to halt the clearing of gardens and other obstructions along the rail line.
Howard Normann, the park board’s manager of urban forestry, told reporters that staff are hand-digging and moving another 50 or 60 smaller fruit trees.
Normann estimates it will cost between $300 and $400 to move each of the larger trees using the mechanical tree spade.
“Here the soil is nice and soft, easy to move. When you get down to Sixth Avenue, it’s probably a little more challenging, so it might be a little more cost,” he said.
And, he anticipates it will cost about $150 to hand-dig and move the smaller trees with a shovel. They’re being donated to Treekeepers, a non-profit organization, which will find new homes for them.
Normann maintains it’s important to save the trees.
“It’s a sensitive issue for citizens that live in this area and that have community gardens in this area,” he said, adding that the city is committed to planting more trees as part of the Greenest City 2020 initiative.
“People are passionate about the trees on this corridor, [and] again, as a park board, we do whatever we can to save trees,” he said.
Normann noted there is a huge variety of fruit trees along the corridor, including plum, apple and fig.
“Some have been planted as recently as last year. We have some trees that are 40 to 50 years old that are unfortunately too big to move,” he added.
The park board is covering costs associated with the project. Normann said it has “some flexibility” within its planting account. CP has given it until March 11 to complete the job.
But some trees have already been lost.
“[CP] has taken trees down. There are trees that are in the way of their work in general, not so much here, but down on the Sixth Avenue part there are definitely quite a few trees that have come down,” Normann said.
“Some trees we just can’t save. From an economic standpoint, they are in no condition to be saved. They either have broken branches or are diseased or are too large. There are trees that have been planted against walls. There are trees that have been planted on angles. So we’re picking the heathiest trees and there are some, unfortunately, that can’t be saved.”
He expects the ones that are being relocated will survive the move. Individuals were given the opportunity to remove their own trees, and some did.
John Coupar, chair of the Vancouver Park Board, insists relocating the trees is a worthy effort.
“The mandate of the park board is to preserve and protect trees and green space. That’s what we do, so I think it totally aligns with the mission statement of the park board. This is a situation where we’re trying to save those trees and have them remain for the enjoyment of all citizens. I think it’s a very noble goal,” he said.
When a reporter asked if it was economically the right way to go, Coupar said yes.
“It’s not a large cost in terms of the overall operation. These trees are going to go to McCleery Golf Course and the others are going to result in donations to Treekeepers, so I think it’s a very positive story,” he said. “You get a mature tree this size — I mean we grow trees in our own nursery and it takes many, many years to get trees this size. The other thing is it helps improve our canopy. We don’t want trees to be removed. We want more trees and we’ve been continually replanting more trees in the city over a very long period of time, going back many years. That’s one of the things people appreciate about Vancouver.”
noconnor@vancourier.com
Twitter.com/naoibh
