Group concerned after elm trees cut down

A group of Saskatoon tree lovers are concerned one type of growth comes at the expense of another.

A small cluster of decades-old trees were felled last week and are now nothing but a pile of wood on the ground in the city’s south downtown. The group of treasured elm trees — dubbed the Gathercole elms — were cut down to make room for a multimillion-dollar development.

"I haven’t gone to the site yet; it just makes me too sick to my stomach to even think of it," said Richard Kerbes, founding member of SOS Elms, a group that had lobbied for years to protect the American elm trees on the site located between Second and Third avenues. Kerbes said the Gathercole elms were about 80 years old and could have lived for another 200 years where they were.

"That’s 10 generations or more of future Saskatonians who could still enjoy those trees near the river," he said.

The trees were located on Parcel Y land which now belongs to Victory Major investment group. It is the future site of a hotel, residential condo tower and office-retail buildings surrounding a public plaza and pool as part of the city’s south downtown redevelopment.

"I think it would be impossible for anybody to build around those elms," said Ward 1 Coun. Darren Hill, who added the decision to remove the trees was not taken lightly, but was made in the interest of new development in the city’s downtown.

"You have to balance the two out," he said.

SOS Elms questions why the city couldn’t place a higher value on preserving its urban forest and make some attempt to design a development that incorporated existing trees. Doug Mitchell, president of SOS Elms, pointed to European cities, where trees are preserved and protected for years.

"In Switzerland, they just about have them all counted and named," he said. "We don’t have that longevity here. We don’t have that feeling of time."

The SOS Elms group made presentations to city council numerous times about the value of the Gathercole elms. They were hopeful when plans for the site nearly died on the table in November before a last-minute announcement that Saskatoon-based Victory Majors Investments Corp., led by local businessperson Karim Nasser, would take over the project from Calgary’s Lake Placid and the design of the project would remain the same.

New saplings will take years to reach the size of the Gathercole trees. While the city does well to plant new trees, not as much is done to preserve mature ones such as the Gathercole elms, said Michelle Chartier, who works in the city’s parks branch.

"As city workers, we don’t have a lot of control, but we do care very much for the trees," said Chartier. "I guess in the name of progress it happens."

Chartier has worked with trees in the city for more than 20 years and said the new saplings will grow for at least 15 years before they create any environmental benefit. The input cost of the trees, especially during the first three years, is high. Trees for planting are brought from a nursery and watered weekly during their first few years of growth.

In her experience with appraisals of other trees in the city, the elms were probably worth upward of $25,000 each.

Hill said the city may need to look at stricter bylaws to ensure protective measures are in place for trees.

"I think certainly we can do more," he said.