Being an environmentalist should come with a warning!

This Easter morning I noticed a local company cutting down a cedar hedge on Crown land near the end of my property along the river. They just sold their place and it seems the new owners want the sellers to do the dirty work and cut out the cedar trees to maximize their view of river. The cedar hedge is about 20 feet high, maybe 20 trees, about 25 feet in length. I love cedars for the role they play in bank stabilization and that they hide houses that like mine, are built too close to the river. 

The tree cutter is a trained forester and admitted that cutting the trees as requested would certainly kill the trees but he was just following orders. He was very understanding and agreed to stop the cutting until municipality could give a ruling or guidance. I suggested that if the cedar trees need to be cut back to open up the view, at the very least, they should be trimmed slowly so that the trees don’t die from being cut back too much. This represents a compromise and an environmentally sound solution to the problem in my opinion. Obviously there is a need for awareness about the role of riverbank trees to protect the river and the road that runs alongside.

I’m concerned for the river bank collapsing without these trees but also that this kind of cutting is illegal and sends the wrong message to new houses that are currently being built on opposite side of river. I understand that homeowners want to maximize their view of this beautiful river but if everyone starts cutting trees that block their view, there will be a very big problem for the river bank and the road. By the evening I got a nasty FB comment from the father of the new owner of the property and now I'm being painted as the bad guy who is making trouble and trying to deny the new owners of a clear view of the river. "Why don't you mind your own fucking business?"

I remarked to our new Councillor that this is a classic example of awareness/education needed about difference between trimming and cutting of riverbank vegetation which is obviously a gray zone. But my Councillor called me back to say the inspector came round and gave the neighbors approval to go ahead and cut the trees. Money talks. I reminded him that these trees are on Crown/hydro land and will eventually result in the river bank crumbling into the river with all the motor boat traffic – but this doesn’t seem to matter when trees get in the way of a desired view.This is exactly what happened along our river just south of Wakefield and our Municipality put in extra stop signs and a few barriers to solve the gaping hole problem. This was over 2 years ago! Maybe I should run my car into this hole one dark night and try to sue the the Municipality? Good luck on that one!

So now I'm the bad guy. I’m a do-gooder, living in an fantasy world (especially if our Council reads this post!). I feel naïve for taking this stance and once more, I’ve been burned by sticking my neck out!  I'm slowly realizing why most people stop trying to do the right thing, it's just too hard and too frustrating. I mean look what happened to Jesus! It’s a sad state of affairs for the environment and common sense, but that’s the world we live in. When will I learn and play by these stupid short-sighted rules?  Poor me, I should have joined the Military as my father wanted. I honestly think my life would have been much easier bombing ISIS than saving trees. So for any young people who want to be part of the solution and not the problem, beware. Being an environmentalist should come with a warning.