Dear Editor:
An open letter to Mayor Derek Corrigan and Burnaby city council:
My family ties to Burnaby started in the mid-1930s, when my great grandfather purchased land on Springer Avenue. Both of my parents have deep Burnaby roots, and I currently live in South Burnaby, where my husband and I are raising our young family, and I work in Burnaby. I feel invested in the future development of Burnaby.
We selected our current neighbourhood for the trees and the beautiful street appeal of my neighbourhood. Our property has one large walnut tree and three large evergreens, one young apple tree and one dying plum tree. I say this so readers understand a tree bylaw will impact me personally. We, too, will have to pay a fee if we want to make landscape changes to our private land. But I am willing to make this small sacrifice to allow the city the opportunity to manage all Burnaby trees to ensure that my children can raise their children in the City of Burnaby where neighbourhoods will still have old growth trees.
Large trees, especially evergreens, are quickly being removed in South Burnaby, at a rate that is not sustainable. To respond to D. Ashenden in the Nov. 28 Burnaby NOW, yes, I do look at aerial maps of Burnaby, and I can show you more than 50 large trees that have forever disappeared from the landscape within a very small area of Burnaby in the last few years. Yes, Burnaby still has some large
trees, but at the current rate of removal, they will be few and far between. Most of the large trees are on lots with older homes, as the older homes are being removed, so are all of the trees.
I am not a radical. I do not normally write letters.
However, if I allow the extreme opinions of some citizens writing in the paper to represent me in silence, I feel I will be letting down my children.
I have done extensive research into this topic. There are numerous sources of academic literature outlining the importance and urgency to protect trees in urban areas.
Many municipalities across North America have recently enacted tree bylaw protections, or are currently in the process like Burnaby.
As our global community becomes more populated and densified, we must take measures to protect our trees.
Here is a quick summary of the reasons for needing to protect urban trees as they provide numerous societal benefits as presented in the academic literature:
* Energy conservation (provide shade, protect from winds and weather),
* Reduce carbon dioxide,
* Improve air quality,
* Reducing storm water runoff, and flooding issues,
* Noise reduction,
* Ecological benefits,
* They create desirable environments,
* Reduced stress levels in citizens are associated within cities that have more trees,
* Increased real estate values = neighbourhood beauty.
Burnaby is currently undergoing a major growth and densification period. We need the City of Burnaby to implement the new bylaw to protect the urban trees because trees benefit the whole society, not just individual landowners.
This new bylaw will help to ensure that the City of Burnaby can take a holistic management of the urban forest.
This includes trees growing on city-owned and private land.
If we look to our neighbouring municipalities and their bylaws, we quickly see many stricter tree bylaws currently exist in the Lower Mainland.
In Delta, you need a permit to cut down any size tree.
Vancouver and Coquitlam have tree bylaws and permit processes that are linked to tree diameter, similar to the newly proposed Burnaby bylaw.
Whereas in Surrey, the tree bylaw has very involved rules, permits, and mandated replacement trees for the removal of specific tree species.
As cities grow, laws and bylaws are needed to protect the interests of all.
Just because I own a car that has a fast engine does not mean I get to drive at any speed.
Regulations, fines and penalties have a role to ensure that all citizens' long-term best interests are protected.
This bylaw urgently needs to be implemented as homeowners are cutting down healthy trees prior to the implementation of this new bylaw, in my opinion, to protest this bylaw.
It is about time the City of Burnaby take steps to improve the protection of our large tree inventory in Burnaby. I believe the new bylaw should even be stricter and provide for more replacement trees to be planted.
T. Wispinski, Burnaby
