Vancouver council urged to close tree-removal loophole

Vancouver city council is considering tightening its tree removal bylaw to prevent property owners from removing even one healthy tree without first seeking permission.

Under the current Protection of Trees bylaw, property owners are allowed to cut down one healthy tree per year without offering justification.

City staff are recommending that council close the loophole.

If approved, the change would bring Vancouver in line with surrounding municipalities in terms of tree protection measures.

We are doing this because since 1996 over 23,000 healthy trees at least eight inches in diameter at chest height have been removed, which isnt helping our objective of stopping the decline in tree removal and of growing an urban forest in Vancouver, said Malcolm Bromley, the citys general manager of parks.

According to a report to council there has been a drastic decline in the citys forest canopy since 1996 with most of the decline occurring on private property.

While Vancouver possesses a magnificent urban forest and has seen thousands of new trees planted since the approval of the Greenest City Action Plan, Vancouvers city-wide canopy cover has been declining over the past few decades, said the report.

Bromley said the tree canopy covered 22.5 per cent of the city in 1996; today it has dropped to about 18 per cent.

Every modern city measures its canopy and we are down to 18 per cent and its reducing every year. This is the first step in trying to stem that tide while we start to plant more trees and allow the urban forest to regenerate, said Bromley.

He estimated it could take about 40 years before the city gets it tree canopy back to 1996 levels.

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Vancouver council urged to close tree-removal loophole