WHTYFRÉE P«à %3S WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1M9, PAGE 7 PAG E SE VEN MOONSCAPE MADNESS Trees are an endangered species. That may seem a strange conclusion so soon after Earth Day since hunclreds of thousands cf trees were planted thon. A whole bunch more are being planted this week for Arbor Week ...but most of these are just little cnes. Ites the. big trees that are endangered., Not by disease or insecte but by bureaucrats who ailow, approve, and condone their removal. Iniat week's paper w, carried a whole page of storiesabout trees that have been or were in danger of be'mg cut down. Andthe carnage is nothing new. A couple of year's ago a wiiole grove of trees was cut down to make rooxn for a parking lot 5at a local school. On another occasion, a large tree was rlemoved by mistake, whereupon they took down the right tï'ee as well - Mother Nature doesn't stand a chance against-such ineptitude. Ourhose oneiad a huge silver maple on the boulevard. It ws ngletedby he twn desitereglarprodding that it needed to b. pruned) for close to twenty years. At on. point, one official (fr-om tii. safety of hie office) declared it dead. Far fr-om it - tweakened perhaps from lack of pruning (silver maples split at the crotch when their branches become too heavy) but far from dead. Finally, i its weakened state, a lightening storm took out enough of it that the town felt justified in finishing it off for good. However much we may appreciat. trees and want to pre- serve them, and however important they are to tiie Earths ecolg, the "system" etili regards tbem as a nuisance. AftersJa, tiiey produce tons of leaves that need to b. disposed of, they interfere with the. sewer systems, tiiey get in the. way of hydro and telephone wires and tiiey endanger people and prop.rty in storrns. As a resuit, municipalities plan ony teesthat wont grow too big. Bu0 des1 every person' vision cf the. perfect residential street have an arcii cf trees ising above the. rooftops and meeting lover tiie road? The only reason sucii streets are so rare today is because municipalities haven't planted any large species for the. last fifty years and iiaven't taken car. of the cnes that were a]reaýy there. And tiien there's the developers. Consider tii. one that eut down a bunch of trees on a new iiousing, site off Anderson Street a couple of weeks ago. Regardiessof the. sliouting match that emerged at Council about the' removal of these trees, on. thing is certain - it was tii. trees that bast. Sure the. deveboper will plant new trees - seven foot saplings with inch and a half trunks wiiich canaL stand pin an average breeze without gywre ofspot if tgi developer had bis choice, h. probably wouldn't plant any, but this "tre.-in-.very-lawn approach i. imposed by a bureaucracy whicii wants us to believe that they are encouraging mo .re livable subdivisions, The pre-existing mature trees would have been preferable. But land devebopers don't work that way. When a developer clears the. band, iie cuts down al the. trees and seils tiiem for firewood. ($$$) Next h. brings in tii. eartii movers and etrips off ail tii. topsoel and pile it in hume pile. If you ask hum at thi, point, h. wiil teil ycu that it will be moved back so that the new houa.. wiil have luaii lawns and gardens. (Now ok any new iioneowner iiow mucii topsoil h. has in hie garden.) About 90% of the. topad that a developer stripe off tiie land gets sobd ($$$) te Iadacaping contractor. and garden centres where the. new homeowner can buy it back. Tii. deveboper bas, alr.ady made a pile of money before h. bas even put in the first foundation. And witii nothing but an empty moonscape h. can arrange tiiings entireby te his liking. Trees woulcf simply get itii. way. If trous are important te us - and I tiiink Earth Day has clearly indicated aur concern - thon devebopers wiil have to change the way tiiey work Tii. location, size and number cf trees siiould b. an intera part of every subdivision or siteplan application juat 1k sidewalks, ochools and parka. Trees that are te b. preserved siioubd b. tagged, and penalties asaesaed if tuey are daznaged. Dev.lopmentes siould b. planned to tac. tiie most advantage c the existing trees. Trees are an emotional issue. Te rusade cf leaves on a summer evening, their colour in tue feil, the, glistening branches after a wintor storm, are all part cf aur psyciie. Trees in tii. city, and tiie animals and birds that -fi v in tuem, are nature te tth. city dweIIer. Trees shelter our homes from tue seaning winter winds and reduce aur iieating bille. A tell tre. wiII save on air conditioning by shading tue roof and windows from tiie sun. BF ~in RROCK M1'REK LOOKING NORTH TO DUNDAS SMTRET C. 1924. Tii. buildings in thus picture, ail still standing, were constructed in the. 1870s. Brock Street -was pve or the. Brut Urne ini 1923, and it looks as if parking spaces were at a prernium even at this early date. WhtiflAvdMIwS photo 10 TZARS AGO from thi We 30 1980 3O dition of the " Education taxes have incr.ased 12 par cent. " Six B and R Transport trucks wiIIpomt Whitby as an industrial site. " Students from local high achools wilI hold a mock coundil meeting of 1855 to celebrate WhitbWy' 125th anniversary. " Tii. Brcoklin branci cf the. Whitby Public Library bas opened a paperback library at the. Asuburn Cornmumity Centre. 25 TZARS AQO fi-cm the. Thursday, April 29, 1965 edition cf the wHIIBY WEZKLY NECWB " One family was added to Wlhitby%' population in March. *Tihe widenig cf Dumdas Street East could eost the. Whitby Public Utilities Commission $80,000 te relocate utilities. V illard Dodd, chairman of Whitby's centennial committe. 10Oyears ago, died on April 25. *A and P supermarket is having a beef sale with nib rost at 49 cents a pound and blade steaks at 59 cents a pound. 125 TZARS AGO frovm the. Thursday, Apnil 27, 1865 edition of the WHrEEY CHRONICE *Thi. Whitby Volunteer Militia will r.turn fr-om training at Niagara to a reception at the. railway station on April 29. " John Ham Penry is seln the Red Store at the north-east corner of Brock and Dundas Streets, founded b i father Peter Perry 29 years ago. " Samuel 11111 bas purchased the Ontario Flax MIII from A. Porteous and Company. " A meeting to reorganize the. Ontario Cricket Club wiII b. held at the Albion Hlotêl tonigiit.