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A trail through Mud Lake’s forest is going to get a lot of new planting to replace a swath of trees and shrubs cut during the winter, but it won’t all come this year.
The National Capital Commission says it’s going to start by planting 75 new trees this year, and there will be more in future years but it doesn’t yet know how many.
As well, it is promising to spread out — but not remove — the thick layer of wood pieces that was spread on the area after the cutting. Experts say a thick layer of this wood would prevent new plants from growing in.
The NCC says it had to remove dead ash trees, and also other trees badly damaged by wind and ice, to prevent them from falling on people who use the remote walking trail on the east side of the lake. A microburst of wind toppled many trees in Britannia last September.
Residents say they took out far too much, turning a one-metre-wide foot trail through the bush into a “clearcut.” The head of the local residents’ association called it “carnage.”
The swampy forest is a conservation area, and is rated as having high ecological importance to this region.
Anita Vandenbeld, the Liberal MP for Ottawa West, toured the area Sunday. She knows the forest already as her parents live near the edge of it.
“This is an area that is extremely important to the residents in my riding, but also ecologically,” she said in an interview Monday.
She noted that the NCC found the underbrush was largely made of invasive species, and took some of this out. The forest there has an infestation of buckthorn bushes in particular.
As complaints from residents came in “I felt there were a lot of unanswered questions,” she said. “I think they (NCC) need to make themselves available to the public … and answer some questions.”
She has offered to convene a meeting between the NCC and local residents’ groups.
“I think there’s a path forward right now,” she said. “First of all, what do we do in the area that has been cut down? And I think the removal of the wood chips and making sure that new plants are planted there — that seems to be something that would probably be agreed on.
“But then … I think we need to know why” the cutting occurred. “It makes no sense,” because just beyond the cut area there are plenty of other ash trees that were left standing, she said.
She said the residents deserve to hear why the project went as it did, “and in my view, what went wrong.”
The trail is protected in the official Mud Lake conservation plan, written in 2004, she noted, and she wants to “make sure that the NCC remains committed to that plan, and … to make sure that these kinds of things don’t happen.”
Local environmental consultant Dan Brunton, who co-wrote the 2004 plan, doesn’t buy the argument about removing damaged trees. “The many dozens of healthy maple, cherry, elm and other saplings they eliminated were totally unaffected by the wind storm. They were perfectly in place to naturally respond to the disturbance the storm created,” he said.
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
The National Capital Commission says it’s going to start by planting 75 new trees this year, and there will be more in future years but it doesn’t yet know how many.
As well, it is promising to spread out — but not remove — the thick layer of wood pieces that was spread on the area after the cutting. Experts say a thick layer of this wood would prevent new plants from growing in.
The NCC says it had to remove dead ash trees, and also other trees badly damaged by wind and ice, to prevent them from falling on people who use the remote walking trail on the east side of the lake. A microburst of wind toppled many trees in Britannia last September.
Residents say they took out far too much, turning a one-metre-wide foot trail through the bush into a “clearcut.” The head of the local residents’ association called it “carnage.”
The swampy forest is a conservation area, and is rated as having high ecological importance to this region.
Anita Vandenbeld, the Liberal MP for Ottawa West, toured the area Sunday. She knows the forest already as her parents live near the edge of it.
“This is an area that is extremely important to the residents in my riding, but also ecologically,” she said in an interview Monday.
She noted that the NCC found the underbrush was largely made of invasive species, and took some of this out. The forest there has an infestation of buckthorn bushes in particular.
As complaints from residents came in “I felt there were a lot of unanswered questions,” she said. “I think they (NCC) need to make themselves available to the public … and answer some questions.”
She has offered to convene a meeting between the NCC and local residents’ groups.
“I think there’s a path forward right now,” she said. “First of all, what do we do in the area that has been cut down? And I think the removal of the wood chips and making sure that new plants are planted there — that seems to be something that would probably be agreed on.
“But then … I think we need to know why” the cutting occurred. “It makes no sense,” because just beyond the cut area there are plenty of other ash trees that were left standing, she said.
She said the residents deserve to hear why the project went as it did, “and in my view, what went wrong.”
The trail is protected in the official Mud Lake conservation plan, written in 2004, she noted, and she wants to “make sure that the NCC remains committed to that plan, and … to make sure that these kinds of things don’t happen.”
Local environmental consultant Dan Brunton, who co-wrote the 2004 plan, doesn’t buy the argument about removing damaged trees. “The many dozens of healthy maple, cherry, elm and other saplings they eliminated were totally unaffected by the wind storm. They were perfectly in place to naturally respond to the disturbance the storm created,” he said.
tspears@postmedia.com
twitter.com/TomSpears1
查看原文...
