Community Concern Saves Oakland's St. Albans Sequoia

View St. Albans Sequoia To Be Saved in a larger map

Whether we are in the back country, or in urban areas, there is rarely good news when it comes to saving significant trees in British Columbia. Here, in Canada's most treed province, the value of our woody wonders has perhaps been diluted by the sheer volume of them.

Occasionally though, dentritic defenders win a battle, if not the war. Such is the case of the St. Albans Giant sequoia in the Victoria neighbourhood of Oaklands. It has been under threat since the property on which it grows was sold to developers.

Giant sequoia have a very long association with Victoria, even though the huge trees are native to California. That the trees exist here shows early Victoria's connection to the American state.

Some of the trees were brought as saplings by Californians moving north, and sequoia seeds were advertised in Victoria as early as 1860. Local nurseries also raised sequoias for sale locally. Many must have been planted by displaced Californians that missed their unique state tree.

Today, Victoria's Giant sequoias have become landmarks, and their conical tops tower above everything around them. The tallest sequoia, which may be the tallest tree in Victoria, is 52 meters (170 ft) tall. But let's get back to the sequoia on the St. Albans property.

Earlier this summer, Cindy, an Oaklands resident, contacted me to see if I might be able to offer some suggestions for saving several Garry oaks, and one sequoia. I responded with some ideas, and waited to hear of the fate of this landmark tree.

Recently I received a follow up email from Cindy. In it she says:

"Many people came out to the Community Association Land Use forum to speak out in favour of protecting the Sequoia tree. This resulted in these wishes being considered in the report drafted for recommendations associated with the approval of variance application being put forth by the developer. 

Over a month has passed and this morning, the application went before the Planning and Land Use Standing Committee.  I have good news!!  The committee approved staff recommendations that a restrictive covenant be registered on the Sequoia prior to a public hearing that will also take place! 

 In case you are interested, here is the report that the Committee considered, and upon which made its decision:

Planning and Land Use Standing Committee Report

Thank-you again for taking the time to help provide us with guidance.  This helped contribute to what looks like a happy ending!"

Loggers long ago removed the largest Western red-cedar and Douglas-fir from the Victoria area. With the native big tree competition gone, the biggest trees in town are Giant sequoias. All the old, huge sequoias have heritage value and deserve to be protected.

Congratulations to Cindy and the Oaklands neighbourhood for taking action on behalf of their neighbourhood giant, and saving it from becoming yet another victim of the relentless development that has been taking place here since the 1850s.

I am happy to have been a small part of the effort to successfully save what is probably the neighbourhood's oldest planted tree.

Are you trying to save a significant Vancouver Island big tree? Let us know in a comment, or contact us (see info on side bar). We are happy to help in any way we can.

St. Albans Sequoia Needs Divine Intervention

Image shows St. Albans property with the church, behind which lives a Giant sequoia (the tallest tree) currently on death row. Slated to be cut for development, it may be the oldest planted tree in the Oaklands neighbourhood.  View Larger Map of St. Albans, Oaklands, Victoria, BC

Canadians are generally tree-defending people that consider significant trees to be community assets to be shared and enjoyed by all. We don't talk so much about "your" trees or "my" trees as much as "the community's" trees, since we all benefit from their presence. However, not everyone sees it that way.

Where some see history and beauty to be protected, others see distracting impediments to their plans. This often leads to clashes over trees and green space with a preservation-oriented public, and pro-development governments and business people taking sides in adversarial standoffs.

Such is the case in the community of Oaklands, where what may be the oldest planted tree in the neighbourhood is under threat of the chain saw. The sale of St. Albans, a former Anglican church property, is threatening the magnificent, and much loved, Giant sequoia as well as valuable green space with several Garry oaks. It looks like divine intervention might be needed to save the trees.

A concerned tree-loving citizen of the community contacted me via email shortly before a public forum (Thursday, July 19, 2012) took place to discuss the developer's plans, and the community's wishes. The email states:

"I am a resident of the Oaklands community (adjacent to Fernwood).  At the site of the St.Albans property (former Anglican church property, recently sold to a developer) there is a Giant Sequoia that is currently under threat of being taken down to accommodate the developers plans.  There is a public forum on Thursday at our Community Centre to discuss the variance application being put forward and it is believed that it will be argued that the Sequoia must come down (I understand that the developer will be bringing her arborist to the meeting).   

There are many in the community that feel very strongly about that property in general (and in fact an attempt by the community to acquire it was made in the spring) and the Greenways/trees that run along the front of the property in particular.

One of my neighbours believes very strongly that the tree, 'has /had a Heritage Tree Certificate.  But I have not seen it in recent years; it was presumably kept with other parish records which are now either lost or at the diocesan archives.'

I have sent a message to someone to make inquiries with the Anglican Church and I have also had it confirmed by the City Parks dept. that there is no covenant on the tree, but I wonder if there is somewhere else I should be looking to confirm this? Do you have any ideas on how we might argue that the tree must stay?  How do we convince the City that the developers plans must preserve this tree?"

Of course, the best protection for trees is education, but when a tree is about to come down, urgent action is required. Victoria has a tree protection bylaw (see an overview here), so the city is the first place I would start. Other avenues of action could include checking to see:

• if removal defies your municipality's urban forest (or other) plan.
• whether removal contravenes your municipality's tree bylaw.
• checking to see if the permit for removal, if issued, considered all mitigating factors.
• checking if the tree is a 'heritage tree'.
• if all alternatives have been considered.
• if removal makes aboricultural (tree) sense.
• if anyone has talked directly with the developer/landowner to see if mitigation is possible.

If all negotiations fail, and the municipality will not intervene or rescind the permit to cut the tree, and you feel that there are still alternatives to be considered, further actions could include:

• contacting the local media about the story, and being available for an on-site interview.
• contacting a lawyer to ascertain your right to ask for a stop work order until the issue is resolved.

It is surprising that the sequoia is not already protected under Victoria's tree bylaw, since it has both heritage and landmark value. It could be over 100 years old, and may have been planted around the same time as many other sequoias that early settlers from California brought with them in the late 1800s. This one may have originally been planted on a farm as the Oaklands area was farmland from Victoria's inception right up until the 1920s when the last farmer's field was subdivided for residential development.

Also, any tree on private property over 80 cm in trunk diameter is protected by the bylaws. The community has expressed the importance of the trees on the property, both the giant sequoia and the Garry oak, a threatened species in the Coastal Douglas-fir eco-zone.

I see no reason why all these trees can not be incorporated into the new development. Indeed, they would make anything built there even more attractive to potential new neighbours.

Good luck to the community of Oaklands - you have taken on a difficult, but worthy struggle. It would be sad to see these trees taken down. The sequoia could live for 3000 more years!

Contact us at VIBT (see sidebar) if you have any ideas or skills that could be useful toward helping in this opportunity for citizen action, and tree preservation.

The Life Of A 350 Year Old Coastal Douglas-fir

Old Douglas-fir on the new urban/forest interface

I was investigating a new residential development near Thetis Lake Park in the city of Langford, BC recently to see what the new urban/forest interface looks like. This land on the side of Mill Hill is only one of many places where the rapidly developing city is expanding into forest land still in its natural state.

The population of Langford increased 20% between 2001 and 2006 alone. The hills of the city that have been richly forested with big trees for 10,000 years are being blasted into submission and covered with ticky-tacky boxes that all look the same.

While witnessing the completely terraformed landscape I spied one of the remaining large trees at the highest point of the development. I stopped, amazed that it has survived as long as it has, especially through this most recent wave of development which has come within 10 meters of the wide, furrowed trunk.

I considered this tree's long life, about 350 years. It is a time period that saw the arrival of Europeans, and the beginning of the departure of the primeval forest. Along with people from away came an insatiable lust for lumber, land, and profit that continues to this day.

Timeline Of A 350 Year Old Coastal Douglas-fir

900 - The Millstream watershed is in the traditional territory of First Nations belonging to the Northern Straits Salish language group. Some of the groups who reside in the area included the Saanich, Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. Numerous archaeological sites indicate the area has been used for at least 3000 years. In all this time, although First Nations used forest resources extensively, they were never a threat to the overall health of the ancient forest.

1661 - a Douglas-fir seed germinates on the bank of a small stream in the forested hills bordering the Salish Sea. The stream is in the Millstream watershed which empties into what is now Esquimalt Harbour. The biggest threats to the seedling (that could grow to the year 3161) are storms blowing off the ocean and browsing mammals. Annual height increment is relatively slow the first 5 years.

1676 - the tree can produce its first viable seed-bearing cones.

1681 - Tree begins growth spurt - Coastal Douglas-fir grows the fastest between 20 and 30 years of age, but some add height at a substantial rate for more than 200 years.

1691 - Height growth peaks at an average of 61 cm (24 in) per year.

1700 - in January of this year the tree survives the Cascadia earthquake, a walloping shaker that comes in at magnitude 9 plus.

1761 - Tree has reached its first 100 years. Height growth has slowed to an average of 15 cm (6 in) per year.

The Douglas-fir has an intact top and is growing vigorously

1774 - Juan Perez sails to the Northwest Coast from the south. Trades with the Haida of Haida Gwaii, and the Nootka of Vancouver Island. The trees in the forest begin to feel uneasy when they see the Spaniards trading buttons, nails, iron and tin for valuable sea otter pelts.

1788 - Captain Cook lands at Nootka sound (about 350 km up the west coast from Victoria) and cuts ships spars, becoming the first recorded European to harvest trees on Vancouver Island.
- John Meares harvests timber to build the forty-ton North West America, the first European-style ship launched in B.C.
- Captain Meares left the island with a load of ships spars bound for China, becoming the first recorded export of BC timber. The coastal forest can see where this is going, and the trees are trembling.

1843 - Fort Victoria is built (out of trees).

1848 -  Hudson's Bay Company builds its first saw mill on what is now known as Millstream Creek in Langford. The area's forests are logged to feed the mill, and the towering Douglas-fir begin to fall. Our Douglas fir, a youthful 188 years old, can hear axes hitting wood not far away. Civilization approaches, posing the most serious threat so far.

1849 - First recorded export of Vancouver Island lumber to San Francisco starting a tradition that built their docks (more than once, due to fires). Ancient Douglas-fir become piers, buildings, and railroad bridges, providing the materials required to build the infrastructure of the west coast.

1850 - James Douglas signs treaties with most of the First Nations groups in the Victoria area, obtaining proprietorship of the land in exchange for bundles of blankets and the promise that they could continue to hunt and fish “with the same freedom as when they were the sole occupants of the country.” 

1851 - Captain Edward Langford establishes one of four HBC farms close to where the hillside tree is located. More ancient forest is cleared to grow food for the European population based in near-by Victoria.

1855 - a more robust steam-powered mill at Craigflower Farm replaced the mill at Mill Falls - summer water levels were insufficient to power the mill. Tree falling is stepped up to feed the more efficient mill works at the new mill.

1861 - Our tree is 200 years old and begins peak cone productivity which will continue for another 100 years. During this time the tree could produce 20 to 30 times the number of cones per hectare than second-growth stands 50 to 100 years old.

1880 - a fire started on a recently logged area spread from present-day Thetis Lake to the Millstream estuary, and also burned the north side of Mill Hill Regional Park. The 10 cm (4 in) thick corky bark of the old tree protects it from the fire.

Development encroaches only 10 meters away

1911 - The Douglas-fir has reached a height a height of 33 m (108 ft) and a d.b.h. of 90 cm (35 in).

1962 - Tree is now 301 years old having survived decades of logging and exploding population numbers.
- the remnants of Typhoon Freda hit Vancouver Island on October 12 with wind gusts up to 140 km/h (90 mph). Many trees are blown down.

2000 - Langford is entering a decade of unprecedented growth after some years of stagnant economic times. The city is pro-development, and demand for new homes is high. The urban/forest interface is spreading outwards as forest lands are lost to residential development.

2006 -  The tree survives the worst winter storm since Typhoon Freda. Wind gusts on the night of December 16th hit a record 158 km per hour (almost 100 mph). Thousands of trees are knocked down along the coast and in Vancouver's Stanley Park.

2009 - Development starts on new neighbourhood near Mill Hill Park. The hillside area requires clear cutting of what little remains of the forest here, and extensive blasting of bedrock. A steep cliff is blasted out of the hillside just meters from the base of our tree, the largest Douglas-fir remaining in the area.

2011 - The new neighbourhood is ready for home building, and at the edge of it all our tree remains standing. It has attained a height of about 46 meters (150 ft) and a d.b.h. of about 120 cm (47 in). The tree has an intact leader and appears to be healthy.

From seed to maturity, Douglas-fir is subject to serious damage from a variety of agents, and yet this tree has survived them all.

The tree's seeds have been scattered by the wind, and the old growth trees of the future are maturing around it. Will they be able to grow to old age here, or will the next wave of development take them and the grandparent tree down, replacing more wild forest with the permanent imprint of civilization?

The ancient Douglas-fir has a new view

Are Ancient Trees In Langford Afforded The Protection They Deserve?

Does the city of Langford have a tree protection bylaw that might protect this ancient tree, and trees like it all over the city? I checked their website:

"The City of Langford does not have a general tree cutting bylaw. It controls the cutting of trees and the removal of vegetation in designated environmentally sensitive and hazardous Development Permit areas contained within the city's Official Community Plan.

These include, for example, areas of steep slopes, sensitive ecosystems, areas around lakes and streams, areas of potential wildlife habitat and biodiversity, and zones of high or extreme interface fire hazard.

If there are no designated areas on a property then the property owner is free to remove whatever vegetation they wish." - City of Langford website

This "vegetation" could include 350 year old Douglas-fir and other ancient trees.


Location of Tree


View Langford 350 Year-old Douglas-fir in a larger map

More Big Tree Art

Drawing of California Redwood

"Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does." - George Bernard Shaw

Sooke's Evergreen Mall Trees Appeared Healthy Once On Ground

Sooke's 150 year old ex-landmark trees appear healthy in
this photo taken by Yari Nielsen, RFT

Sooke council had a special meeting December 8th at which it was decided that the two 150 year old Douglas-fir trees in the centre of town had to come down. About a week later all that remained at the Evergreen Mall site was tree dust, a heavy smell of pitch, and a giant hole in the sky.

The following was posted on the Sooke District website shortly before the trees were removed:

REMOVAL OF FIR TREES NEAR EVERGREEN MALL

District staff and BC Hydro are working together to remove the two large fir trees in front of Evergreen Mall. The trees, one of which has most notably been decorated with Christmas lights in recent years, will be removed in the week of December 13.

The trees are in need of removal for a combination of reasons. The south side of the “Christmas Tree” will be limbed by BC Hydro in early 2011 to ensure the security of the 3 phase electrical lines installed in 2010. The resultant limbing, combined with the installation of works for recent development on the adjacent property, will cause further decline in the already compromised “Christmas Tree” and adjacent fir tree.

To address the removal, BC Hydro will reduce the tree heights and District contractors will remove the remainder, grind the stumps and clean up the debris. Tree removal will coincide with final landscaping required at the mall as part of the Development Permit issued for the construction of Shopper’s Drug Mart. For more information contact Laura Byrne at lbyrne@sooke.ca.

Considering the heritage value of the trees in question, were these reasons sufficient to take them down? Nowhere in the above notice does it say that the trees were unhealthy or dangerous, and what other reasons would justify removal?

It may be that no one in power was willing to make any compromises to save these majestic giants. They were under appreciated by decision makers, and in the way of developers and "progress". Before any kind of community discussion could be arranged, the trees were gone.

Half way up the trunk - still showing healthy wood, Yari Nielsen

The removal has created some controversy with people weighing in on whether the trees should have been removed or not. Some of the information on the decision to remove them focuses on their apparent ill health. Al Fontes, the district’s manager of operations, was quoted in the Mirror as stating that an assessment “found the trees are dying.”

So were the trees dying? And if they were healthy, what was the real reason the two landmark Douglas-fir trees were removed in such haste, or at all?

Yari Nielsen, of Sooke, was asking questions, too. He is a Registered Forest Technologist, and a certified wildlife/danger tree assessor. Mr. Nielsen wandered up to the town center to check things out, and take a few photographs, on the day the trees came down.

His photographs make it fairly clear that the two trees were healthy. And if that is not enough, that was Mr. Nielsen's professional assessment as well. As he wrote in a letter to the editor at the Sooke News Mirror newspaper, "Not only are both stems completely sound at the base, but half way up as well. I saw no signs of disease (conks or fungus), and the roots appeared to be sound."

More healthy wood, Yari Nielsen

Perhaps this insult to Sooke's natural history will be the impetus for adopting a tree protection bylaw to protect significant trees that are still standing. Heritage Tree Designation could be conferred upon trees that are outstanding in character, size, age, and/or of unusual scientific or historical interest. The two Douglas-fir that were removed recently would have qualified for heritage status on a few counts given this definition.

A tree protection bylaw would engender civic pride and interest in Sooke's trees, and promote their protection. Victoria (as well as many other municipalities in the CRD) has an extensive collection of over 300 inventoried Heritage trees, groups, and areas that are protected from "unnecessary harm or removal".

We should seriously consider saving what makes Sooke's natural and cultural landscape unique and worth visiting. If logging built this town and province, then we should be showing more respect for what got us here - our big trees.

Mapping Significant Arbutus of Vancouver Island

Detail of Arbutus in Roche Cove Park, Sooke

This map augments a post I did on one of British Columbia's most beautiful and unique native trees - the Arbutus. The interactive map highlights some of the significant Arbutus on Vancouver Island, mostly in the Victoria and S. Island area where the peeling bark evergreen trees are most common.



View Victoria and S. Island Big Arbutus in a larger map

Click on the tree icons for more information.

Some of the Arbutus noted are street trees in urban areas, while others can be found in more natural and remote settings. All are amazing trees surviving in a harsh, coastal environment. Often living on rocks in marginal soil not far from the ocean, these tough trees withstand constant pounding from water and wind storms. When a calmer summer arrives, Arbutus are denied water for extended lengths of time during these droughts. 

Big Arbutus and Douglas-fir, Roche Cove Park, Sooke
Click on photo for larger image.

You can use the map above to learn more about Arbutus. You can use the tree icons, or zoom in to view more detailed maps. Try using 'Street View' by pulling the little person icon (on the top left) down to the street you would like to view. It will give you a view of the street as if you are driving a car.

This is a very interesting, low carbon method to see some of the urban trees without leaving your own home. A good rainy day winter activity.


Do you have a favourite  Arbutus on Vancouver Island? Please leave a comment below letting us know where it is.