Latest news with #elmTree
CTV News
15 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
Massive elm tree in one downtown neighbourhood will be axed next week
Toronto Watch The elm has been a staple for generations, but next week it will be coming down after city officials determined it has reached the end of it's life. CTV's Beth Macdonell reports.
CTV News
18 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
Toronto's century-old enormous elm tree to be cut down
The elm has been a staple in Christie Pits for generations, but next week it will be coming down. A native elm tree towering over the Christie Pits neighbourhood for a century is coming down. At the end of May, the City of Toronto determined that the American elm, located on Barton Avenue, was nearly dead. Tree plaque The plaque recognizing the Enormous Elm Tree in Christie Pits. Road closure signs have been posted on the street, indicating that the removal of the enormous elm will take place between Tuesday and Thursday. 'I've lived in the neighbourhood for 25 years, and our family even has a name for this tree - Eddie the elm,' said Brenda Cooke, who came by to take pictures of the tree Friday. 'I'm very upset. A tree like this doesn't come along every day. I'll never see a tree like this again in my lifetime,' an emotional Cooke added. Tanya Neumeyer, who also lives nearby, says she has been admiring the tree from Christie Pits parks for years. Tanya Neumeyer Tanya Neumeyer hugs the Enormous Elm Tree. (CTV News) 'I love this tree,' she said. 'It had a full canopy of leaves providing shade and shelter for birds and humans, and this year, as you can see, there are no leaves on 95 per cent of it.' Joel Harrison-Off, the acting supervisor of the city's forest healthcare and management, said the tree is one of the largest native elm trees in Toronto and was one of the few survivors of Dutch Elm disease, which ravaged the population. 'I'm sad, to be honest,' said Harrison-Off. 'I've been investigating and inspecting this tree for the past 10 years.' The tree had been getting injected with fungicide, and while tissue tests for disease were inconclusive, he said illness can develop quickly. 'This is a big hit to that downtown urban canopy; it's a big hit to people familiar with that tree, who liked to see it through the seasons,' Harrison-Off said. 'It's a big hit for us forestry people who are trying to maintain these trees, to replace something that large, you know, takes hundreds of years.' Preserving the elm's legacy Eric Davies hopes to see the elm's legacy live on. He and his team at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry are working to collect the elm's seeds in an effort to get more native tree species back in the ground. Eric Davis Eric Davis showing a small elm tree growing at the foot of the dead, enormous elm tree that is coming down. (CTV News) 'Knock on wood, the seeds are viable, the cuttings are viable,' he said. Davies explained that come Tuesday, when the tree begins to come down, his team will collect seeds and then take them to the university to evaluate them. He said that if they grow, the elm trees can get to a good size quickly. 'I think it's hopeful considering the history of this tree throughout many years,' said local resident Daniel Damiao. The city said removing the tree will prevent it from becoming a hazard because dead branches are prone to breaking and help prevent the further spread of disease.
CBC
a day ago
- General
- CBC
One of Toronto's oldest elm trees is on its last legs. Researchers are racing to re-grow copies
One of the largest old elm trees in Toronto — possibly in all of southern Ontario — is on its last legs. But as the city finalizes plans to take down the Barton Street landmark next week, a University of Toronto tree expert is determined to ensure it will live again. Eric Davies, a forestry ecologist at the University of Toronto, visited the tree earlier this week to record its size and gather its seeds, which will be used to re-grow a copy of the tree in the future as part of the city's Tree Seed Diversity Program (TSDP). He and his students measured the trunk's height at 40 metres and its circumference at 5.5 metres. "It's sad," he said of the tree's fate. "Each one that comes down, you want to do it some kind of justice by improving our ability to maintain Toronto's trees and forests." Residents of the Seaton Village neighbourhood, in the Christie and Bloor streets area, noticed earlier this year that the old American elm remained barren this spring, while much younger nearby trees were growing leaves. Thirteen-year-old Ethan Tantram, who passes the tree every day on his way to school, said he and his father noticed this spring that the tree seemed ill. "It's heartbreaking," he said this week. "It's a big thing in our community." Unclear what's killing the tree The teen used his drone to get a closer look at the tree's branches and his father later called the city to report the tree wasn't doing well. City staff said an inspector determined during a May 30 visit that the tree was dying and posed a danger to the public. City spokesperson Shane Gerard told CBC Toronto in an email the city has tried to determine exactly what's killing the tree, but lab results have been inconclusive. "The tree was observed with a thinning crown and yellowing leaves in late summer 2024," his email reads. "Removing the tree will prevent it from becoming a hazard, as dead branches are more prone to breakage." Davies, who's recognized by the city as a seed gatherer for the seed diversity program, says he'll be on hand Tuesday when the tree is brought down. "This is one of the nicest remaining elms in Toronto (and) probably has a high quality gene stock to it," he said. "Each one is not only important ecologically but culturally." Local artist Jode Roberts, who lives within sight of the tree, agreed it's meant a lot to the community. Last year, he used old photos of the neighbourhood from the city archives to peg the tree's age at at more than 100 years. He then fashioned a heritage plaque explaining the tree's significance and attached it to a utility pole next to the tree. "There's a profound sadness when something like this disappears," he told CBC Toronto. "It survived Dutch elm disease and the development of the city around it. So sure — let's take its babies and see if we can make more majestic elms." Native trees vastly outnumbered, says researcher Once Davies has gathered the elm's seeds, they'll go into the TSDP, which will distribute them to one of several participating nurseries in the Greater Toronto Area. Once they've matured, in four to seven years, they'll be planted in one of the city's 80-odd parks and ravines — one that's been identified as a good fit for a new elm tree. Davies and a team of U of T students are spending the summer mapping the city's largest and oldest native tree species. He says those native trees are vastly outnumbered in Toronto by invasive species, and he hopes his map will allow the city to aid in their regeneration. Each tree that's mapped is measured and its seeds collected, he said. Those seeds will then be passed on to the TSDP for regrowth. One of Davies' summer students is Sam Sedgwick, who's studying toward a master's degree in forest conservation at U of T. He called the Barton Street elm the most impressive he's seen so far. "With the presence of Dutch elm disease, we've lost pretty much every large elm in the city, so the fact this one is still here really speaks to its resilience," he said. "We really want to preserve those genetics as much as we can." Sedgwick helped take measurements of the elm earlier this week. He noted the tree is more than five metres in circumference, 40 metres high and that its canopy covers five houses on Barton Street. "That's a lot of air conditioning," he said.
