The planned removal of a windswept tree on Dallas Road means the loss of a unique piece of the city’s natural history, says former city councillor Pam Madoff.
Time and the prevailing winds have dwarfed and contorted the horse chestnut tree that defiantly stands between Olympia and Paddon avenues, but is expected to be removed in August to make way for a sewer main. The work is part of the Capital Regional District sewage-treatment project.
“It’s one of those things where it fairly defines the weather conditions and how trees can adapt to it. It becomes almost like a work of art,” Madoff said. “I think, is [removing] it really necessary?”
The city, however, says it had to choose between retaining the decaying horse chestnut tree or a healthy elm across the street.
“The horse chestnut tree is failing. It does have internal decay. It’s been hit by vehicles over the years and it’s in generally poor condition,” said city director of parks Thomas Soulliere.
“We had arborists from the CRD as well as our team assess that situation and come to the same conclusion: The big healthy elm tree was the one to be retained.”
Madoff said she was surprised by word of the tree’s removal, because she recalls receiving assurances while a councillor that the horse chesnut would be saved. She said she brought up the issue at the beginning of the design process for the sewer main route and bike path that will top it.
“When I brought it to the attention of the wastewater project manager and team and city staff when they made the presentation to council, there was all this vigorous nodding from city staff, saying: ‘We know that tree and everything will be done to protect the root zone and to retain it,’ and a lot of acquiescence at the time from the CRD team as well. So I never gave it another thought,” Madoff said.
While notices have been posted saying the tree is slated for removal, Madoff notes that that section of Dallas Road is currently closed for the sewage project, so a lot of people won’t see the notice.
James Bay Neighbourhood Association president Marg Gardiner is not surprised the tree is slated to come down, noting that it stands on one of the narrowest stretches of the sewer pipeline route.
“Council was aware of it at the time and it was expressed by them that the tree was important to particular residents in that area,” said Gardiner, adding no guarantees were given. “I never really had confidence the tree would be saved.”
Soulliere agreed that options were limited due to the narrowness of the stretch.
“It wasn’t an option to be able to get everything that we’d like to have, retain all the trees and have a new great amenity with the new cycle track and the wastewater treatment. There certainly were some difficult decisions to be made on the way,” he said.
Gardiner said the deep, wide trench being dug for the sewer project has exposed a lot of tree roots, which means other trees might also fall victim to the project.
“By the time this is all finished a few years down the road, I expect to see a few other trees in trouble just because that’s what happens when you dig that big of a hole.”
Tell us about your favourite tree
On an island where more than 30 soccer fields worth of old growth are logged every day, the loss of a single tree might not seem like that big a deal. Don't tell that to opponents of the City of Victoria's plans to topple a tree leaning over Dallas Road, though. It seems some examples of arboreal splendour are more beloved than others.
That leads to a question: What's your favourite tree? Or, put another way, which one would you most hate to see cut down? Let us know (feel free to include a photo) and we'll publish the results.
Please send your submissions to [email protected] with the word “tree” in the subject line.
