Funeral held for trees slated for axe in North End

The weather fit the mood for a group gathered alongside a chunk of property in Kelowna’s North End, as a pre-emptive funeral was held for a set of trees destined to fall.

Several members of the Kelowna Tree Protectors (KTP) picketed outside what will be the future home of Pleasantvale 2, on word the chainsaws would be out. Pleasantvale 2 is the second half of an affordable housing project, and the plans call for the removal of several mature trees.

“Those of us who have been concerned about this for awhile, we had heard the trees were coming down today. Apparently not today but we know it will be soon,” KTP chair Bev Kalmakoff told Kelowna10 Monday. “Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. So, we came to say goodbye.”

There’s nearly 30 trees on the property, some upwards of 70 years old, and nearly all are set to be felled for the new development. Kalmakoff said thanks to their grassroots efforts, she believes four will be saved.

But with the project already signed off on by BC Housing and City Hall, and shovels expected to be in the ground soon, Kalmakoff and others know there is little more they can do at the Pleasantvale site.

That’s why the advocacy group hopes their years-long efforts here will influence architects, developers, and lawmakers on future developments, especially in the North End.

“We are not saying stop the building. We are saying think of the trees while the buildings are being planned,” she said. “The plans are developed but the trees are not thought of at all. And what we are trying to do is make awareness … that the trees are important, and they need to have them considered at the beginning of plans.”

She urged enhanced creativity on behalf of urban planners and developers to accommodate mature trees in neighbourhoods slated for redevelopment, like the up-and-coming North End.

Beyond beauty and shade, she said the trees play important roles in the community, cooling the neighbourhood in the summer and providing habitat for animals and insects.

“A tree is like a person,” Kalmakoff added. “If they put in a tree that is 10 years old, it is going to take 30 years to do the work these trees are doing here right now.”

In an earlier statement, BC Housing said the original plans for Pleasantvale 2 saw the removal of all the existing trees.

But once BC Housing acquired the land, it and "its partners were able to reconfigure the plan to create seven additional housing units and to retain four of the heritage trees on the northwest corner of the site."

"The plan for Pleasantvale 2 also includes planting approximately two times the number of trees to be removed, with the size of the new trees at the time of planting sufficient to create an instant landscape," it added.

The protection of mature trees is hard, it said, “not just because the trees may conflict with the housing development plan, but also because the development of new infrastructure and buildings can create unsustainable stress on established root systems."