“The loss of mature trees is a double tragedy”: Trees Please on the Roblin Replacement Trees

Nearly a year after more than 20 public trees were illegally clearcut during a house move down Roblin Blvd last summer, the city has begun replanting.

Here’s what Trees Please’s Charles Feaver had to say in City begins replacing trees lost in botched 2021 house move: Three so far with 20 more to come (Winnipeg Free Press, July 25, 2022)

“When you take out mature trees (from boulevards)… you can’t necessarily expect new saplings to grow back, to survive in that rough condition and so that’s why the loss of mature trees is a double tragedy,” said Charles Feaver, a member of Trees Please Winnipeg.

Feaver said it will take decades before smaller new trees are large enough to provide the same amount of shade and carbon storage as those that were lost, making the replants more “substitutes” than true replacements.

He said Winnipeg should add a tree protection bylaw that requires construction crews to work a minimum distance away from trees and their key root systems.

“You don’t want people digging up your gas-line infrastructure but you also don’t want people killing your tree (root) infrastructure,” said Feaver.