In the areas of Collingwood with the most trees, big yellow Xs adorn some of them, marking the trees for removal.
However, many of those Xs have faded over time while the trees still stand.
During the Nov. 6 committee of the whole meeting, councillors considered a request for the town to hire a forestry co-ordinator, who would be tasked with overseeing the town’s tree canopy and work on implementing more of the town’s urban forestry management plan. The request is expected to cost about $260,000 which will include the salary for the co-ordinator, as well as a vehicle purchase and costs for contracted services.
However, during discussion, some councillors had difficulty seeing the forest through the trees.
Coun. Kathy Jeffery noted she believes tree canopy is part of Collingwood’s identity, noting the tree streets as an example.
“It’s a part of who we are. It pains me, but I have to support having this because I think it’s going to be critical for us moving forward,” she said.
Coun. Steve Perry noted that as a regular user of Collingwood’s trail system, he has seen the faded yellow Xs on trees along those pathways.
“I would hate to see, five years down the road, that those trees are still there. There are quite a few in dangerous areas now,” said Perry. “I’m going to support this. It’s too important to the town.”
In February 2020, town council adopted an urban forestry management plan which included the consideration of a future town forestry unit and the position of a town forester. However, during an update on the plan provided to councillors in Aug. 2022, councillors were told implementation of the plan had been slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the plan proposed funding from 2020-2029 of $2,259,025 for the endeavour, no new human or financial resources had been approved through the budget process as of 2022 according to town staff, notwithstanding administrative requests in the past two town budgets. In 2021 and 2022, the town spent between $200,000 and $300,000 per year for tree maintenance/removal and trimming.
Of the 41 recommendations in the urban forest management plan, staff said only the review of the Official Plan to develop new policies that support the urban forest was underway.
The Official Plan suggests the town should achieve a minimum of 30 per cent tree canopy cover by 2041. The town's urban forest management plan calculated the 2018 tree canopy coverage at 31.7 per cent.
Currently, many town departments contribute to the urban forestry works including parks, recreation and culture, public works, engineering, planning and bylaw. Some tree felling is done through the town by a third-party company, however, there is not one staff person or department who oversees the entire picture.
During discussion, Mayor Yvonne Hamlin acknowledged that the aptitude for council to approve another staff hire was low.
“Is there any other way we can deal with this?” she asked.
The town’s director of parks, recreation and culture Dean Collver said new invasive species such as the Emerald Ash Borer and new types of fungus are already in Collingwood, and climate change is also impacting tree canopy.
“We’re holding on by the skin of our teeth. We’re doing that by utilizing third-party arborists who come when they can because they’re in extremely high demand,” said Collver. “We’ve got a long way to go. This is just the start.”
“This will give us the in-house expertise to guide that process. Without this, I don’t know how we get better,” he said, adding that the new co-ordinator would not be a “chainsaw-wielder,” and that contracted services would still be needed to carry out that work.
According to treasurer Monica Quinlan, the town has paid approximately $80,000 this year alone for contracted arborist services.
Coun. Chris Potts, who formerly worked for the town in their public works department, noted frustration with the addition of more management to the town staff complement. He said for many years, public works was responsible to manage tree maintenance.
“I don’t know how we got by for so many years with the resources we had,” said Potts. “We have 20 staff (in public works) that we pay full-time wages and benefits. We’ve taken away this contract work. We’ve taken away sewer work (to third parties). What do the staff we have do?”
Coun. Rob Ring agreed.
“I walked the trails recently and saw hundreds of trees that were marked. If we don’t have the people who know what they’re doing, are they randomly spraying on trees to be cut down?” asked Ring. “We’re not hiring a person to take a chainsaw and do it themselves. That’s not getting trees down.”
Coun. Christopher Baines and Coun. Deb Doherty both spoke in support of the recommendation.
“We’re getting behind in terms of our urban canopy management,” she said. “Our plan has been sitting on a shelf for, I think, seven years with nothing done because we don’t have anyone to do it.”
“Every time we have a development application come, we have residents standing here, worried about the loss of canopy,” said Doherty.
At the end of discussion, council voted 6-3 in favour of proceeding with the new staff hire. Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer, Potts and Ring were opposed.
The decision will need to be ratified at the next regular meeting of council before going into effect.
