THUNDER BAY — The city is failing to manage its urban forests, says urban forester Dan Corbett
Corbett told Newswatch he left a position with the city because of city management's unwillingness to follow the comprehensive urban forest strategy he was tasked to create.
There were several instances, he said, in which the city either outright refused to implement the strategy or implemented it ineffectively.
He said that in 2021 he was hired to create a comprehensive removal strategy for the city's remaining 4,200 ash trees, to meet emerald ash borer targets. The emerald ash borer is a highly destructive invasive beetle that attacks and kills all species of ash tree.
Corbett said, “I created a plan to remove 700 trees per year in a certain order over the next six years to meet the 2030 target that's identified in the emerald ash borer strategy.”
He said that his strategy would have the city request quotes for large-scale projects to remove 700 trees per year following a pattern that would focus on the highest infected areas first.
“It's creating a buffer between the areas of high infection and the areas of low infection by concentrating first on the trees that are the most affected,” Corbett said.
Corbett alleges that the city conducted the work piecemeal and did not include stump removal in its tree removal contracts.
Now he says there are over 3,000 stumps that are past due for removal and the number continues to grow.
“If we're doing 700 removals in a progressive pattern and the removal ... includes stump removal, then we know the areas that we can follow up on and make sure that the quality was there. If stump removal was done, we can go and plant those sites again,” he said.
Corbett said his plan wasn’t followed and that homeowners all over the city have stumps on their boulevard.
“It's spread out everywhere and there's no follow-up. Like now it's difficult to track back and see if those stumps even have a stump removal request in the system because the contractor doesn't have access to create those stump requests,” Corbett said.
Corbett also has concerns about overall tree maintenance in the city.
He said that he warned the city about the conditions of the cottonwood trees in Waverly Park, for example.
Corbett said he recommended a risk assessment of those trees in August because they were showing "multiple concerns with them that need to be addressed very soon because they're showing signs of decline, sufficient enough that someone could get hurt."
He gave his resignation shortly after.
"They did nothing and a month and a half later, a tree lands on someone's car," said Corbett.
In October, large limbs broke from trees, resulting in one vehicle being struck. The vehicle had to be towed from the scene with a shattered windshield.
City by-laws prohibit members of the public from maintaining trees on municipal property which include boulevards and city laneways.
However, Corbett said that it is city policy to leave laneways unmanaged.
“They used to be maintained by the roads department and now that roads is no longer maintaining them, there are trees that are growing through fences and over fences into people's backyards,” he said.
If the city received a complaint of a tree overhanging a driveway or a garage, a member of the parks and open spaces department would inspect to see if it was a hazard.
“If it's not a hazard, it will not be maintained,” said Corbett.
“We had to go out to those properties and speak with homeowners on a regular basis. Councillors would call us and say, 'how come you're not doing anything about this?' We would say 'because it's not a hazard and we only deal with hazards,'” he said.
Corbett is also concerned that the city would not be prepared to respond in the event of a forest fire.
The rising temperatures also create a growing risk of wildfires inside the city limits according to a presentation to city council on Nov. 4.
Corbett said that when he inquired about the city’s emergency urban wildfire response, he was told the Ministry of Natural Resources “is here in town.”
Therefore, if an urban wildfire were to ignite in Trowbridge Falls park, for example, the MNR would handle it. “But if a fire starts in there, they don't have time to respond, especially if they're in Alberta,” said Corbett.
Kayla Dixon, Commissioner of Infrastructure & Operations told Newswatch in a statement that “the City of Thunder Bay does not respond to public statements made by former employees."
Dixon does clarify that the city is addressing the Emerald Ash Borer infestation as part of an approved management plan.
"Trees are also removed due to age, damage, or conflicts with infrastructure, and hundreds of replacement trees are planted each year to support the city's urban forest goals. These efforts are part of broader Council approved plans like the Urban Forest Master Plan, Climate Adaptation Plan, and Net-Zero Strategy," said Dixon.
