Saanich plans to plant 54,000 trees to increase the urban forest from 43 to 44 per cent, a one-per-cent increase by 2064.
That is if they all survive.
And over half of them need to be planted on private land.
My neighbour is on his second set of boulevard trees, the first ones died. The second set is now also dying. I suspect not enough water in the winter months.
The new development a block from me also had to replant their boulevard trees, who now, again, all look stressed and some are definitely dying.
A much better strategy to fight heat domes and improve livability of dense neighbourhoods would be to protect the well-established trees already standing.
In the District of Saanich, you don’t even have to plant bylaw-required replacement trees on your property. You can just shoot Saanich some money, and the replacement trees become Saanich’s problem.
So, the Shelbourne valley, for example, lost a significant amount of well-established mature trees because the underground services were at capacity and needed to be upgraded to service all the apartment buildings being built at the moment.
Seriously, in this day and age, nobody has figured out how to protect mature trees in urban areas when replacing underground services?
If the current trend is allowed to continue, by 2064, the Shelbourne valley will have significantly fewer trees than a few years ago, and significantly more pavement and concrete.
Andrea Gleichauf
Saanich
