|
Those living close to an eagle perching tree, near the intersection of Pilot Way and Cockleshell Road in Nanoose Bay, are lamenting its loss in wake of the tree being topped to make way for construction of a new house. “We’ve all seen the eagles in that tree,” says nearby resident Maura Lee Rafferty. “It’s a huge loss. This is totally disheartening.” Hud Elgood owns Branching Out, the company hired to do the cutting. He says the tree was deemed hazardous and there’s nothing that could have been done to save it. “In this case there was rot in the roots and the base. It was in fact a liability and guaranteed to fail in the fairly near future. There were no options whatsoever.” Elgood says the owners of the property had hopes of preserving the tree and had it assessed at their own expense only to find it presented an imminent threat to their own property, adjacent buildings and the nearby road. “If it hadn’t been deemed hazardous I would have passed on the job,” says Elgood, adding that he phoned the Regional District of Nanaimo personally to inquire about any pertinent regulations in the area. Patrick Walshe, represents a local, wildlife tree stewardship program and says the specimen in question had been documented as a perching tree. “It was known about and used by several pairs of eagles,” Walshe says but adds the small size of the lot probably precluded any other outcome. If there’s something to be learned from the tree’s demise says Walshe, “it would be that proactive planning arrangements originally can sometimes account for these situations.” That is likely of little comfort to those living nearby who’d become enamoured with the resident eagles. “Anyway you look at it it’s a shame,” says neighbour Stu Wood. “You could often hear them. This was one of their places.” Rafferty concurs. “I cried all the way into Nanaimo,” she says of her trip to the regional district offices to lodge a personal complaint upon her discovery of the tree’s fate. In a telling notice tacked to fallen portions of the tree Elgood writes, “I’m extremely sorry for the grief that the removal of this tree has caused to the local community,” but adds in a post script that those who “unjustly and rudely berated” his staff could forward their apologies through him. |
