High winds, not tree maintenance, to blame for storm damage, says NDG mayor

Russell Copeman, the mayor of the Cte-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grce borough, says no amount of maintenance could have preserved some of the trees that came down in Tuesday's intense storm.

In an interview with CBC Montreal'sDaybreak,Copemansaid the fact some trees were uprooted by the suspected microburst indicates maintenance wasn't the issue, at least in those cases.

"When you have 110 km/h winds ... no amount of maintenance would have preserved a tree that's been uprooted like that," he said

When it comes to cutting down dangerous trees,Copemansaid the borough is usually damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't.

"There was a tree onMarcilAvenue last year that we judged had to be removed and the reaction of the public was quite unbelievable we had to defend cutting down the tree," he said.

"Lots of people, I guess, think that they know and can assess the health of a tree."

Copemansaid the borough uses expertarboriststo determine what trees need to come down.

Critics say boroughtree maintenance lacking

The Cte-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grceborough is facing a torrent of criticism over tree maintenance in the wake of the storm, whichbrought down mature trees around eastern NDG.

Residents took to social media to say they've been trying to bring the borough's attention to dangerous trees in their neighbourhood.

One member of the Parents NDG Facebook group said she called the borough to have a tree trimmed and was told the average wait time was three years for someone to come and deal with the problem.

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Jim Fyles,a professor ofnatural resource sciences atMcGillUniversityand director of the Morgan Arboretum in Montreal's West Island, says it's unlikely maintenance would have helped too much in a situation like yesterday's storm.

"You can imagine the amount of energy it takes to break a piece of wood that's 75 centimetres in diametre," he said.

"In the end, there's not a lot you can do about it."

Big trees, big problems

Still, Fylessaid maintenance is necessary in neighbourhoods like NDG, which isknown for itsbigtrees andisthus susceptible to the big problems that can come with them.

"It's like the rest of us, as we grow old, we accumulate defects and injuries," he said. "They need more attention and need to be maintained more carefully."

That causesspecial bylaw challenges, which Fyles saidhaven't been addressedvery well for a variety of reasons.

"It's very expensive to deal with very big trees, for homeowners orfor the city, and there's a tendency to say 'well, if they're growing well, let's let them grow,'" he said."But the bigger they get, the harder they fall."

At the end of the day, Fyles said nobody likes to cut down big, healthy trees that in some cases can take up to 75 years to reach theirfull, mature height.

That's the key challenge city officials have to negotiate when it comes to trees that pose potential dangers to public safety.

Devastating tree loss

Copemansaid the losses from Tuesday's storm are devastating for the neighbourhood, where the old trees are one of its hallmarks.

He said about 40 blue collar workers are now on the cleanup, which is focused on the borough's roads, sidewalks and parks for now.

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Copeman said he was not in a position to comment on what will happen for trees on private property.

"We'll assess that situation and see if we can be of some assistance our priority is for the public domain."