A group of residents on Montreal’s Nuns Island are protesting a decision to cut down about 1,000 ash trees in Domaine Saint-Paul, a popular urban forest, this winter.
Starting in January, the borough of Verdun will cut down trees within 25 meters of park paths and infrastructure. Most of those trees are dead or rotting due to infection with the emerald ash borer, a shiny invasive beetle.
Earlier this year, concerned residents founded a non-profit organization, Les Amis du Domaine Saint-Paul, arguing that the 26 hectares of forest deserve patience.
“There is peace here. If you are suffering or need peace of mind, this is the place to be. There is no other place to be. Peace cannot be found by walking through Sainte-Catherine. No,” Alain Bosset said. , group president.
Bosse understands that the tree must be cut down.
Alain Bosset is the president of the non-profit organization Les Amis du Domaine Saint Paul. (Paula Dayan Perez/CBC)
But rather than culling around 1,000 trees in the new year, he said cutting them gradually would give the forest a better chance of regenerating and prevent it from turning into a wetland.
Philippe Tremblay, the organization’s administrator, said the tree saplings will fight against two invasive plant species that grow around Nun’s Island and Lake Bature, near Domaine Saint-Paul: greenwort and buckthorn. He says he may not have a chance.
“When you start changing an ecosystem from a shady place to a completely bright place, bad things start to happen,” Tremblay says.
Emerald ash borer larvae leave an S-shaped pattern on the bark of infested trees. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, these trees typically die in two to three years in North America. (Paula Dayan Perez/CBC)
Approximately 986 trees will be cut down, a district spokesperson said. They said that number could change slightly once all the trees are marked in the coming weeks.
The district said on its website that it decided to remove all the trees at once to disturb the ground as little as possible. Once a tree is felled, the district says it will need to bring in heavy equipment to remove the trunk from the property.
Verdun borough mayor Marie-André Mauger said in a statement, adding that the borough had consulted with the Ministry of the Environment and received permission to intervene. The borough is also working with Montreal’s urban forestry team, she said.
“Due to the prevalence of emerald ash in our forests, we would like to reiterate that certain actions need to be taken to protect our forests and keep them open to local communities.” The statement reads:
The Municipality of Verdun plans to cut down ash trees within 25 meters of the boardwalk along a 2.5 kilometer stretch of the park. (Paula Dayan Perez/CBC)
Les Amis du Domaine Saint Paul received a copy of the logging permit certificate issued to the Autonomous Region of Verdun by the Ministry of the Environment through a Freedom of Information request. CBC News has seen the document. The certificate, dated January, states that the trees subject to intervention must pose an immediate danger to trail users and park infrastructure.
Tremblay worries the district is exaggerating the threat posed by some trees being cut down. He said the civil society group is also consulting with biologists, and that logging in stages may have less of a negative impact on the overall health of the forest.
Ultimately, he says he hopes the district doesn’t make a mistake by rushing too quickly and that the forest can withstand logging.
“This is really the heart of Nunn’s Island in many ways,” Tremblay said.
