Petition grows as plans remain to redevelop the public area
Photo by Sasha Dani.
A petition to save trees in Centennial Square has garnered over 2 000 signatures following the City of Victoria’s decision to remove them as part of a revitalization project.
The petition, created by Sasha Izard, a member of the Community Trees Matter Network, aims to prevent the removal of a sequoia and other adjacent trees which the city says cannot be salvaged during the construction of a new, multi-use gathering space.
The network says these trees are essential to community health and irreplaceable by new growth. Sequoia are one of the oldest living organisms on Earth and are labeled as endangered in their homeland of California and northern Oregon.
Council voted to approve this proposal in July, and another petition was formed and closed prior to the creation of Izard’s in late August.
Brooke Stark, the City of Victoria Assistant Director of Parks and Open Spaces, acknowledges the petition and its goals.
“We hear the concerns of the citizens very loud and clear,” she told the Martlet.
“What’s important to understand is that council is moving forward on the redevelopment of Centennial Square, and there are some impacts and tradeoffs which they have evaluated,” she said, describing the project as a “strategic priority.”
She also said that the city consulted the public regarding the redevelopment, and that the project’s design team employed an arborist to assess the condition of the tree. It was then decided that the trees would be removed so that the “goals of the project could be met and achieved,” she said.
Stark noted that the plans for redevelopment include the planting of new trees, which she says are suited to the space and designed to grow to maturity.
Ryan Senechal, an urban forestry professional and sessional lecturer at UBC is concerned about the removal of the trees.
In an interview with the Martlet, Senechal emphasized that the tree is in good health, but that the environment surrounding the square would make it difficult for the city’s proposed replacement trees to thrive.
“You have a tree that is adapted to the conditions it’s presently in — it’s working,” he said. “You’re not guaranteed to reproduce that and see a tree on the other side.”
There are mental, physical and public health benefits to urban trees, along with benefits to the biodiversity of the area, according to Senechal.
Senechal said that a tree as large as the sequoia has the ability to regulate temperature on a hot day by providing shade, but also through a process called evapotranspiration, which he explained happens when trees release stored moisture through their foliage.
Large trees can also prevent flooding by reducing runoff, he added, emphasizing that it would take years for the new proposed trees, assuming that they grow successfully, to produce the same effect as the ones slated for removal.
Ultimately, Senechal feels that the city is devaluing its communities by prioritizing redevelopment.
“By severing the links between the community and the tree, we actually assign more value to other elements of the city, which are, by nature, hurting us in public health and mental health,” he said.
Ava Hagreen Leblond, secretary of UVic’s Environmental Sciences Student Association, has signed the petition.
“I’m really happy that they’ve got so many people who have signed on,” she told the Martlet. Hagreen Leblond recognizes that the city sees a benefit in redeveloping the square, but she feels that other options to keep the trees were not explored thoroughly enough.
She says that the best thing students can do to spread awareness about issues like this is sharing information with people in their immediate circles.
“I think that’s the nature of some of these charismatic species — they cause a stir, they cause a conversation,” she added.
Petition organizers aim to present their signatures to council before construction of the square is set to begin in 2025.
