[CANUFNET] Fate of elm tree on Parliament is decided

[Debra Huron]

Good morning, I saw Mr. Radeki's post in the comments after the online news article posted by The National Post. He raised a query about harvesting the elm's genetic resources. 

The Elm Recovery Project at the University of Guelph Arboretum has collected twig samples and will be grafting that material onto root stock in the coming months. This collection of twig samples occurred last week when the area around the elm tree was razed by PSPC machinery and crews. All non-native species from the enclave were removed, leaving only the elm. Here is a press release  <http://greenspace-alliance.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PRESS-RELEASE-March-27-final.pdf>from last week that describes this event, with comments from the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club on the twig removal. 

On a related question raised in this forum, I'd like to comment that relocating the elm was never seriously considered by the feds as an option, nor were we as activists suggesting that the government spend $400,000 to attempt to do so. Where would it be moved to? And would the feds then want to move it back after the 13 years of work on Centre Block ends? Our hope was that the MPs on the committee would grant the elm a reprieve until June of this year, so that a new and thorough assessment could be done. The health of elder trees is always a prime consideration when there's an attempt to keep them alive. The Greenspace Alliance had access to 4 tree reports on the elm conducted between May 2018 and end of September 2018. We commented on those reports in a document sent to the committee members <http://greenspace-alliance.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Elm-condition-summary-v2.pdf> on March 18. At the meeting on April 2, PSPC pulled 2 more reports out of the hat. One of them was from 1995 and said the tree had 20 years to live. That was 24 years ago, and the elm's continued existence seemed to make it less credible. We were asking the committee to support a professional assessment of the tree after leaf out in a month or two. We thought this would be worth doing because we truly questioned the quality and value of the 3 assessments done last September.

Politics is a tough game. We are convinced that Liberal members of the committee had already decided before the April 2 meeting that they needed to be "team players" and stand behind Minister Carla Qualtrough of Public Services and Procurement Canada. That seems to be a theme on the hill these days. The reporter from the National Post captured those shenanigans, as does the tape of the final 6 minutes of the meeting. Had the emergency meeting that the chair set up for March 21 not been cancelled due to budget votes/filibuster in the House of Commons, the Minister's office would not have had as much time to pressure Liberals on the committee to stand with her and her officials' perspective. In a nutshell, the department in charge wants all trees removed from east of Centre Block so it can have a blank canvas--a construction staging ground for the huge excavation that's planned for Phase 2 of the Visitor Welcome Centre. 

If I had room in my heart for a sense of humour on this issue I might ask: how can an invisible underground bunker compete with a stately elm tree that this gov't has spent the last 40 years and who knows how much money to keep alive? What we don't see seems to be more important that what is alive and clearly visible on the skyline of Parliament Hill. This picture from Ottawa Tourism captures the beauty of the elm tree. The maple tree to the right of the elm is a Norway maple and it was cut down on March 26 as part of the razing that occurred while the moratorium on cutting the elm tree was in place. 



*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
*Debra Isabel Huron*
*Here I am...*
*living on unceded*
*Algonquin territory *
*living with the reality*
*of climate crisis*
*living with rivers & trees*
*& sun & lakes & birds*
*Phone: 613 859-8049 *
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*


**

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> When a developer applied to remove part of the original Black Oak Savannah north of High Park in Toronto, along with a colleague we investigated moving some mature trees with a huge tree spade that came out of Texas. In this case being an Elm it surely would be too risky because of the imminent danger of DED. There is an opportunity to post on the National Post feedback line if you follow the article. I did. I also posted something on Facebook as I saw the notice there too.

> 

> Jack Radecki RCA 342

> 

> *From:* CANUFNET <canufnet-bounces at list.web.net> *On Behalf Of *Ed Czerwinski via CANUFNET
> *Sent:* April 3, 2019 4:54 PM
> *To:* Canadian Urban Forest Network <canufnet at list.web.net>
> *Cc:* Ed Czerwinski <forestreecare at nexicom.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [CANUFNET] Fate of elm tree on Parliament is decided

> 

> It could be relocated. 

> 

> Sent from my iPhone

> 

> 
> On Apr 3, 2019, at 4:13 PM, Debra Huron via CANUFNET <canufnet at list.web.net> wrote:
> 

>> Liberal MPs vote to abandon elm tree 

>> 

>> On April 2, advocates for an elm tree did our best to convince Members of Parliament to do two things: 1) delay removal of the elm until a full appraisal of the tree's health can occur after it comes into leaf this spring, and 2) reconsider the currently held assumptions about the size and location of Phase 2 of the Visitor Welcome complex. The latter, by the way, is envisioned as a 30,000 sq. meter underground complex. The place where the elm tree sits is not above the visitor complex centre; the elm enclave will be used as staging area for construction on the site, which is expected to last 13 years. 

>> 

>> Five Liberal MPs on the House of Commons Procedures and House Affairs Committee voted against a motion that would have put a further moratorium on destruction of the centenary elm that sits to the east of Centre Block on Parliament Hill. Four opposition members voted in favour of the motion, put forward by Randall Garrison, a New Democrat. The motion said: "I move that this committee request a moratorium on the removal of the centenary elm and construction activity that would compromise its health until the end of June to allow for a further evaluation of the health of the tree and of alternate plans that would allow for its long-term survival."

>> 

>> You can listen to the proceedings of the committee here http://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/PROC

>> 

>> Here is a news story that summarizes yesterday's events https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/liberals-vote-against-saving-parliament-hill-elm-tree

>> 

>> 

>>  
>> *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
>> *Debra Isabel Huron*

>> *Here I am...*

>> *living on unceded*

>> *Algonquin territory *

>> *living with the reality*

>> *of climate crisis*

>> *living with rivers & trees*

>> *& sun & lakes & birds*

>> *Phone: 613 859-8049*

>> *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 

>> 
>> 
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