City of Toronto CUPE 79 and 416 Strike – Day 34 – Our Urban Forest Suffers From Labour Dispute Too

by John Laforet
posted on July 25th, 2009 at 13:04:53 pm

I’ve written about a number of impacts the City of Toronto strike has had on services ranging from garbage collection, ferry service, child care and recreation programs. Today, I’m writing about the impact of the City of Toronto strike on the urban forest we as Torontonians can be so proud of. Toronto is often referred to as a ‘city within a park’ on many of the municipal signs in our park space. We’re blessed with great tree coverage in a city of our size, and the City’s Urban Forestry Services is responsible for the health, preservation and maintenance of some three million trees on City owned property, in parks, ravines and along boulevards. 

Southern Scarborough is an area I know extremely well, and all those who come and see it surely know of the richness of Scarborough’s natural beauty. The trees in many of the communities in this part of Scarborough are often considerably older than the homes built around them. While sharing this place with nature is a great privilege, there are also responsibilities attached to being the neighbours of such great examples of balance between urban life and nature. 

Lorie Reynolds, a Scarborough resident knows this quite well and has done a tremendous job along with her husband advocating for the protection of a beautiful 200 year old White Oak tree on city property, just behind her home. She was kind enough to write to me and tell me how the City Strike has impacted this tree’s health, and share with me the history of her involvement working with City staff and her local Councillor to ensure Urban Forestry Services is doing what it can to preserve this White Oak. 

As you will see in Lorie’s pictures below, the White Oak tree behind her home has an infection called ‘Anthracnose’ a tree disease that causes spots of dead tissue to appear on leaves, causing them to fall from the tree, weakening it’s health. Sections of the tree become infected and require intervention to treat the tree to keep it healthy through pruning, fungicide, mulching, and lots of watering. 

Four years ago, when this particular tree was first noted to have an infection, the folks at Urban Forestry Services came and treated the tree. Things were looking good, but this summer, the Anthracnose fugus returned. Lorie had written to Urban Forestry Services to advise them of this, but received an auto reply message advising her of the strike, and asking her to re-send her email after the strike as staff would not be reading emails received during the labour dispute. 

Lorie and her husband have developed what sounds like an excellent system for watering the roots of the tree in the meantime, using an old blue box recycling bin, as they await an end to the labour dispute so that Urban Forestry Staff can once again come out and properly treat this old oak tree and hopefully restore it to it’s previous vitality. 

In many ways the Reynolds and this White Oak Tree are lucky that Councillor Brian Ashton is their municipal representative. He is one of the better municipal Councillors in Scarborough and has taken an interest in working with them to ensure the folks at Urban Forestry do what they can to help. Last week, he contacted City Management, who continue to work through the strike to advise them of the situation and see if anyone is able to come out during the dispute to treat the tree. 

Lorie Reynold’s Photos

 

 

As someone from a well forested community in Scarborough, I have a great appreciation and respect for nature and the many old trees that dot our parks, and private property. Last June, I participated in a ‘Toronto Tree Tours’ nature walk through the Rouge Park put on in partnership with LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) Arborist Todd Irvine, and Jim Robb, General Manager of Friends of the Rouge Watershed. It was quite a fascinating experience that wove the history of the development of Scarborough and it’s tree cover into one narrative. It actually inspired my third blog entry, some three hundred and forty posts ago on June 22nd 2008 – Rouge Park. Trees like the one standing near the Reynold’s homes are real gems, and their work protecting this tree should be commended.  

Last year I also wrote about another Oak Tree that had fallen on a playground in High Park and of Ernest Hemmingway’s concern in 1923 about the impacts of urbanization on the City of Toronto’s oak trees. July 31st 2008 Ernest Hemingway on Toronto’s Oak trees circa 1923

 

 

Tags: City of Toronto Strike, City of Toronto Strike Update, City of Toronto Trees, City of Toronto Urban Forestry Services, Councillor Brian Ashton, CUPE 416, CUPE 416 Strike, CUPE 79, CUPE 79 Strike, Oak Trees, Scarborough's Trees, Toronto Strike, Trees in Toronto, White Oak Trees Toronto