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On June 24, 2006, two members of Les Amis de Meadowbrook, and a representative of the Green Coalition went to survey the damage and to take an inventory of the trees that were cut down on Meadowbrook on or about June 14 and on June 21, 2006. This wanton destruction took place in a beautiful wooded area at the north end of the Golf Course and it has been left in a deplorable state. The ground is littered with sawed off tree trunks, as well as many small trees that were knocked over by the falling trees. It took about two and a half hours, and they counted and photographed 56 trees that had been cut down. Three of these were dead and the rest of them of various sizes but were healthy. Most of them were cottonwood, one possibly a hundred years old, but there were several ash, elm and sumac.
It is a mystery why this despicable act was committed. There is a rumour that some of the residents on Blossom Avenue, which is adjacent to the golf course were complaining about the pollen falling from the cottonwood trees. Whatever the reason, we believe that it was the owners of Meadowbrook, Fairmont Hotels, who arranged for the trees to be cut down. Unfortunately the City of Cote St Luc does not have a by-law that prevents the cutting down of trees on private property as most municipalities on the island of Montreal do. If they did, this disaster could not have occurred. This cutting down of trees is only adding to global warming and climate change.
It is unforgivable to cut down perfectly healthy trees for no reason. Many of the trees that were cut down were cottonwood that grow very quickly and are especially important to prevent global warming, They are also nesting places for Baltimore Orioles, that are now becoming quite rare. They used to nest in the Dutch elm, but they were killed off by disease. Our only recourse now is to pressure the people who cut these trees down to clean up the area and replant trees so that the ecosystem can recover and be a home to the flora and fauna that live there. We must also lobby for the City of Cote St Luc to toughen up their tree by-law to prevent the cutting down of healthy trees, even if they are on private property. This must never happen again.
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