Dear editor:
It's sad to see a nice tree taken out, but it's unlikely that one is 200 years old.
When the area was clear cut, little or nothing of any size survived that first cut.
Readers could check the MONOVA archives online database and look at Inventory No. 10419, "The Country Club, 2200 Lonsdale Ave. Tennis and lawn bowling in progress," Oct. 3, 1914. No big trees then. Or look at Nos. 11960 or 11956, also from 1914, showing not a stick standing at Carisbrooke. A more likely age would be about 100 years.
Regardless of the tree's age, more will grow back, as more are growing around the city all the time. When we moved to Central Lonsdale in 2002, we had two big red cedars taken out, lovely trees but totally dominating the garden and threatening the garage foundations. They were 30 inches thick at the butt, but had only 27 (twenty seven!!) growth rings.
The same comments apply to the outraged Deep Cove residents in the previous week's paper.
Get a grip everyone, almost 200,000 of us live on the North Shore, only because the magnificent forest which existed before contact was taken out. Was it prettier than our current city?
Perhaps, but most of us like our life here. The regional population is growing, and we need responsible development to accommodate our kids, grandkids and newcomers. Let's set aside the understandable NIMBY reactions which see the Districts of NV and WV shrinking in population and say, loudly, YIMBY!
Doug Hatlelid
North Vancouver
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