I always knew that we had a Dutch Elm Disease problem in the city, and had seen the “red dots of death” for years. During the summer of 2020, however, I really became aware of the extent of the problem in our neighbourhood of Earl Grey.

If you look beyond the weeds and the illegal dumping at the bottom of Middle Gate, you will discover one of Armstrong’s Point’s hidden treasures. Here stands a massive cottonwood tree, largely unnoticed by the public but well-known to arborists. Until fairly recently it was part of a small grove of companion trees. Now it stands alone, a sole survivor.

Kingston Crescent/Row has seen a neighbourhood transition from one of beautiful mature trees to one with a constant thinning of that once-majestic canopy. Nothing less than a call to action was required.

What began as an over-the-back fence conversation has blossomed into a community-wide effort to protect, restore and enhance the public tree canopy in Riverview.

Residents at The Legend, a condo development on South St. Anne’s Road, approached Save Our Seine about planting shrubs and trees on city land next to their condo development. A perfect expanse on a curved pathway provided the locale for this endeavour.

This the story of the orchard we established on Churchill Drive Dike, an account of the mistakes we made, what we learned, and the changes we continue to make to develop the orchard into a healthy, low maintenance, permaculture food forest.

For Save Our Seine (SOS), there is likely no greater feather in the cap than the jewel that is the “forest of spirits”, the Bois-des-Esprits. No single issue in SOS’ history took more out of its board than the fight to save the nearly 120-acre city forest from development.

In North Point Douglas, we started planting cedars about 15 years ago. Some on our property, some on neighbours’ and some on boulevards. They cost about $15 in the fall.

It’s early November 2016. It’s been unseasonably warm, but there are skins of ice on the puddles this morning, the kind that are wonderful to stomp. I’ve just dropped our daughter, Anna, at a friend’s house; Mike and I have a few hours to ourselves, so we’re going for a walk.

I’ve been a Wolseley tree bandit for as long as I can recall. In 2006 I was promoted to ‘chief-bandit’ by the Palmerston gang, a position I held for 11 years. My posse was about 50 strong, and our territory stretched the length of Palmerston…