Oshawa workers replacing downtown trees in anticipation of Pan Am visitors
New technology means downtown trees will have the nutrients they need to grow large and healthy

DurhamRegion.com
May 21, 2015
Reka Szekely  

Oshawa workers are digging deep to make sure the city’s downtown is lined with new trees as international visitors head to Oshawa for the Pan Am Games.

Parks project technician Gord Dunne, forestry supervisor Rob Fennell and roads supervisor John Cosway were all on hand recently on King Street East near Albert Street as City works crews installed new honey locust trees.

Putting the trees into the ground was the last step in a complicated process aimed at helping create a healthy canopy in the downtown after the City was forced to remove most of the trees due to damage by the emerald ash borer.

“The goal is to replace all the ash we lost in the downtown which is close to 100 trees,” said Mr. Dunne.

Mr. Fennell explains that because much of the downtown is urbanized, new trees have a tough go of it. Prolific pavement means soil doesn’t get recharged with nutrients or water, leaving little nourishment for young trees.

As a result, the City is turned to a new technology called Silva cells to give trees a chance. The cells are plastic cubes that are filled with top soil. Top soil on its own can’t support pavement, but it can when placed in the Silva cell frames, greatly increasing the nutrients available for trees.

“That then allows us to put the in-fill back into the downtown core but still grow a really large tree,” said Mr. Dunne.

Mr. Fennel explains that there will be a tube connected to the below-ground top soil so it won’t be depleted again.

“We can water the tree and add nutrients, fertilize it if need be.”

Though the end result will be worth it, installing the cells is much more labour intensive than simply planting a new tree and requires concrete to be removed and then replaced, which can be a complicated job in a busy downtown.

“With all the infrastructure we have down here -- the hydro and the Bell -- we’re limited to how we excavate,” said Mr. Cosway.

The City has budgeted $153,000 for downtown tree replacement and received an additional $15,000 through the TD Green Streets program. The first phase of the project will take about two months. Making sure the downtown trees are ready for international visitors during the Pan Am Games has meant pushing back some of the sidewalk repair work his roads crews would normally be doing this time of year.

Though a lot of hard work, the City workers say it will ultimately pay off.

“The way we were doing it before was more expensive in the long run because we kept replacing the trees,” said Mr. Fennell. “It would only last us a couple of years, three to five years and you were doing it again.”

Meanwhile the response from the community has been positive.

“The business owners in the downtown core all seem happy we’re doing something to improve the looks of the downtown,” said Mr. Cosway.

Having trees in a downtown has a range of benefits from the shade reducing temperatures on a hot summer day to lowering crime.

“The impact of trees in a downtown is just immeasurable,” said Mr. Dunne.