By Ian Holmes

‘We need to protect them:’ City pushes to improve Nanaimo’s tree canopy

Dec 9, 2018 | 1:25 PM

NANAIMO — While more people seem to be following local tree removal rules, the City says keeping Nanaimo green amid constant development is an ongoing grind.

Patrick McIntosh, the City’s urban forestry coordinator, said the need to protect Nanaimo’s invaluable inventory of trees has been stressed by years of steady development all over Nanaimo.

He said trees improve air quality and health outcomes, lower heating and cooling costs, and provides wildlife habitat among a laundry list of environmental benefits.

“It is really important that there are urban forest advocates and people understand the need to protect trees both on private and public property,” McIntosh told NanaimoNewsNOW.

He said positives of Nanaimo’s tree canopy go beyond environmental positives to involve tangible economic benefits.

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“Well treed areas with green spaces attracts residents, visitors and businesses,” McIntosh said. “Properties with mature trees on them can be worth as much as 10 to 20 per cent more.”

The City implemented a tree removal bylaw in 1993 as a tool to combat land development speculation during an era of dramatic growth.

The bylaw was updated in 2013 to include a Tree Management Plan mechanism, which includes financial compensation for the City to replace trees erased by subdivisions and development permits.

Upwards of four mature unprotected trees can be cut down on private property annually in Nanaimo, while no protected trees can be chopped without a permit.

McIntosh said he’d like to see more species of trees fall under the designation of extra protection. He said a maximum of a fifth of all tree species in Nanaimo are banned from being cut down with the absence of a permit.

“We’re going to need to increase our capacity to be able to oversee replanting, plant more trees, care for those trees, monitor development and set aside good guidelines for tree retention.”

He said the City writes upwards of 100 tickets a year for illegal tree removal (max $500 fine per tree) and improper pruning (max $250 fine).

McIntosh described the pruning offence as an action which “shortens the lifespan of a tree.”

He said the courts have the ability to issue much stiffer fines ranging between $500 and $10,000 per illegally cut tree.

The City recently went to court with a Nanaimo man who was fined $84,000 for chopping 25 trees without City permission to improve views of an oceanfront lot.

McIntosh said an overwhelming number of people follow the tree removal rules despite a steady diet of ongoing complaints and investigations.

“We’ve had a lot of inquiries since I’ve started in this role about two-and-a-half years ago,” McIntosh said. “There has been well over a 100 per cent increase in the amount of permits applied for, I think the word is increasingly getting out there.”

He said the popular tree voucher program launched last year is an example of an initiative the City could build on to bolster Nanaimo’s green space.

Mayor Leonard Krog said he supports retention and expansion efforts of Nanaimo’s urban tree canopy.

“I believe the City could and should encourage citizens to plant more trees because penalties themselves will not do it. I would support more incentives versus simply increasing penalties,” Krog said.

Coun. Ben Geselbractht said it’s important to properly manage Nanaimo’s growth to ensure a livable and environmentally sustainable urban landscape.

“I have the utmost faith in our urban forestry program to make sound recommendations to Council as to what we could be doing better to maintain an urban tree canopy that will keep our city healthy and livable,” Geselbracht told NanaimoNewsNOW.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes