Vaughan: City chipping away at tree replacement target

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 8, 2015
By Adam Martin-Robbins

The city is chipping away at replacing the thousands of trees lost over the years to the emerald ash borer infestation and the thousands more toppled during the devastating ice storm in 2013.

By the end of this year, the goal is to restore about 5,000 of the roughly 10,000 residential boulevard trees that have been lost, according to Zoran Postic, Director, Transportation Services, Parks and Forestry Operations.

That’s up from the 4,000 trees the city was planning to plant this year thanks to “synergies” and how the contract was tendered, he said.

“Yes, there’s been some people that have been upset, but by coming up with a new model and rethinking our strategy it’s led to efficiencies, which has led to more trees. So, I think, it’s a good news story,” Postic said.

But there’s still a long way to go to restore the approximately 19,000 trees that have been lost across Vaughan, including such areas as parks, industrial areas and open spaces (in addition to the residential count).

The cost of replacing all of those trees has been pegged at approximately $7.2 million, according to Postic, so it’s going to take several years to accomplish.

Residents anxious to know if the tree in front of their house is slated to be replaced this year can do so by going to www.vaughan.ca/trees.

That’s where you will find a map showing the streets where tree replacement is occurring in 2015 as well as a list of street names.

The city prioritized streets for tree replacement using a formula that weighed a number of different factors including severity of tree loss on area streets, street length and tree loss severity of individual streets, Postic said.

The replacement trees are about 50 mm in diameter, which means it will take approximately “four to seven years” for them reach a “significant” size, Postic noted.

It’s not known, at this point, how many new trees will be planted in the coming years as that depends on the city’ s budget and how many more trees are lost to emerald ash borer.

“Each and every year, we’re going to revisit the strategy and adjust,” Postic said. “It’s really hard to give a number other than it’s going to take us several years to replace all those lost trees because every year we’re going to have a number of trees that have died so it adds to it.”

For now, the city is focusing on replacing trees on residential streets first followed by industrial/commercial areas then parks and open spaces.

Residents who don't want to wait for the city to replace the tree in front of their home, can do it themselves provided they pay for the tree and they get approval from the city on location and species.

Trees can be purchased through the city for the same price it pays, but you have to look after it for the first year.

“After the 12-month warranty period, the tree will be signed over to the city and we’ll take care of it and maintain it,” Postic said.

For more information, contact the park and forestry department at 905-832-8577.