Diodati calls on city to enact new tree policy

Niagarafallsreview.ca
March 29, 2017
By Ray Spiteri

Two or three for every one.

That’s how Mayor Jim Diodati wants the city to think when they remove and replace trees.

“I’d like to see the city enact a new policy that would see where every tree is removed in the city, that we replace it with two or three,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean where the tree stood. The idea is to replace smaller, ornamental-type trees, but we could plant the extra one or two in a park, or a trail, or somewhere in the city to expand the canopy.”

Diodati said the city current sits at about a 97 per cent replacement rate for each tree that’s removed.

“The trees have to be removed for various reasons - age, health risk, storm-related downed trees, emerald ash borer. Significant resources have been focused on the emerald ash borer removal and replacement over the last years. Therefore, we need to get back on track and increase our replacement rate.”

With the city’s standard tree replacement program, Diodati said he’d like to see the municipality combine efforts with community plantings, where “we can replace trees at almost a one-to-one ratio in our city.

“Moving forward I’d like to see this increase to at least two, so two trees replanted for every one removed.”

The mayor said the city should try to work with agencies and groups such as the Niagara Parks Commission, Park in the City and Communities In Bloom on the initiative.

A motion supporting Diodati's efforts was approved.

The mayor's idea could work hand-in-hand with the city’s ongoing tree inventory study.

Director of municipal works Geoff Holman said staff is working out the final details of the plan.

“We could have a presentation that comes back to show you how we’re going to use that information to determine which trees need to be trimmed, which trees are private, which are in the public domain, and help us manage the replacement program,” he said.

Holman said the city has cut down about 1,800 of 3,600 trees that have been impacted by the emerald ash borer.

He said the city hopes to replace the remainder of the trees during the next couple of years.

 City council approved $150,000 in its 2017 capital budget to remove, restore and replant impacted trees.