Peppered amid the stumps of felled trees at Gibsons Elementary School are now just over 400 Douglas fir seedlings, most of them planted by the school’s students.
Students spent April 21 and 22 (Earth Day) planting the replacements for the 41 trees School District No. 46 (SD46) had removed for safety reasons last month.
“They were large cedars, large rot centres in the middle, dying tops – really bad shape,” said Bill Lasuta. The school district had hired the arborist and forester to assess the trees and recommend which ones needed to come down. Lasuta also oversaw the replantings.
“We are replacing the cedars with a more temperature-tolerant species of Douglas fir,” said Lasuta.
The felled cedars’ poor health was largely because of climate change, said Lasuta. “Trees don't adapt quickly to temperature changes and we're already at about 1.2 C [warming], apparently, in B.C.,” he said. “Cedar trees can't tolerate that. They tend to root very close to the surface [so the tops dry out]. Douglas fir have deep roots.”
When the trees get stressed, they send out pheromones, which then draw insects, then branches decay and “just one thing culminates in affecting the health of the tree in the long run,” said Lasuta.
“Then pieces break off. And that's okay in the forest because dead snags, they're good for wildlife, but they're not good for kids.”
Pieces of cedars had fallen onto the school grounds in the past, and the remaining cedars will be monitored every one to three years, said Lasuta.
The 410 seedlings were donated from Pacific Regeneration Technologies in Pitt Meadows, he said.
Once the classes came out and planted the trees, Lasuta sprayed them with organic deer repellent to discourage peckish ungulates.
The decision to fall the 41 trees roused loud community controversy earlier this year. Letters to Gibsons council, the Coast Reporter and SD46 saw members of the public asking the school district to reconsider cutting down the trees, particularly in the face of climate change. The importance of mature trees to healthy ecosystems, their carbon-storing capacity, and the benefits of forests for children were among the many points raised in letters.
While members of Gibsons council did voice concern over the trees coming down, the Town ultimately issued the tree cutting permit.
