{"id":39023,"date":"2026-10-01T14:31:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=39023"},"modified":"2026-10-01T14:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T18:31:48","slug":"town-arborists-encourage-residents-to-request-replacement-trees-for-boulevards-after-microburst-damage-and-ash-tree-removals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/town-arborists-encourage-residents-to-request-replacement-trees-for-boulevards-after-microburst-damage-and-ash-tree-removals\/","title":{"rendered":"Town arborists encourage residents to request replacement trees for boulevards after microburst damage and ash tree removals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Town of Aurora arborists Ian Bryant and Cameron Chisholm are looking forward to productive and restorative Fall projects after an especially troubling and challenging Summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 1,000 trees, including 107 on Town boulevards, were destroyed in northwest Aurora during an early-July microburst that delivered 160 km\/h winds and fifteen minutes of climatic chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of dollars of property damage, caused by falling trees, was incurred by residents who live in the leafy Bathurst and St. John\u2019s Sideroad neighbourhood that includes St. Andrew\u2019s College. Equally disconcerting was the sheer volume of trees that were uprooted or severed, or had to be removed by crews due to dangerous hanging branches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant, the veteran Forestry Crew Leader whose team has spent the last 89 days cutting down damaged trees and clearing debris from boulevards, parks, and the Town\u2019s revered trail system, provided a progress update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll trails have been opened, except for the section behind St. Andrew\u2019s College,\u201d he said, noting extensive damage in the area. \u201cThe opened trails still have debris at the sides.  A significant concern is all the storm debris is limiting regeneration. We\u2019ll be steadily removing the debris into next year. As well, we\u2019ll be removing all unsalvageable trees off the boulevards, cutting down dangerous hangers, and grinding stumps. On private properties and on the trail systems and parks in the northwest quadrant including St. Andrew\u2019s College, easily over 1,000 mature trees are down due to that storm on July 3. Stump grinding the storm-affected trees will happen in the Fall and planting will be done in the Spring. It gives us more variety of choices for planting a variety of trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chisholm, a registered botanist who has been working for the Town for almost two years, recommended a range of trees he\u2019d prefer to see planted on the boulevards to ensure biodiversity: \u201cI\u2019d like to see a combination of trees. Sugar Maple is one of my favorite trees, although some varieties don\u2019t do as well in urban environments. Another favorite is the Kentucky Coffee Tree. They remain small for two years, but take off in size and are exceptionally tough trees that deal well with road salt and drought. Catalpas are great additions with their beautiful white flowers, but they\u2019re a bit messy, much like the Kentucky Coffee Tree. Both have lots of seed pods which require some cleanup, but I like the messy trees. I also like the hardiness of the London Plane Tree which is part of the Sycamore family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant augmented his colleague\u2019s choices with trees that have a fast growth rate for residents looking to replenish their property\u2019s green space quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome options we can plant are Silver Maple\u2014we have a seedless one available with a stronger central leader so there\u2019s not as much sprawl. Freeman Maple, which is also seedless, and has Silver Maple and Sugar Maple genetics; a Tulip Tree, which is a maple-looking tree with tulip-shaped flowers; and an Accolade Elm, which is a hybrid tree\u2014a combination of American and Asian Elms\u2014which is immune to Dutch Elm Disease. We have a list of 30 trees. We\u2019ll entertain a range of tree choices as long they make sense.  The most popular tree we\u2019ve been planting based on requests has been the Freeman Maple. We rely on residents to water the tree in its first year so we\u2019re happy to support homeowners\u2019 choices since they feel more connected to the tree that they\u2019ve chosen and will tend to take better care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if the Town would plant a Red Oak on the boulevard to replace an Ash, Bryant acknowledged his team\u2019s willingness to plant Red Oaks, but offered options due to recent botanical research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRegarding the Red Oak, we can plant that for you. However, in my experience in Town, especially on the boulevards, the Black Oak family, with its pointy lobes, doesn\u2019t fare as well as the White Oak with its rounded lobes. The White Oak family is also a bit more resilient to an emerging pathogen called Oak Wilt, which has been moving up from The States and recently identified in Ontario. Options in the White Oak family include White, Bur, and Swamp Oak varieties. We\u2019d be happy to plant the Red Oak for residents if that is the direction you would like to go. The biggest hurdle our trees face is being watered in the first season in the ground.  All Oaks and Tulip Trees require Spring planting so our crews would not put these species in the ground until Spring 2027.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Bryant and Chisholm are united in their call for residents to call the Town and request one of thirty varieties of trees to replace those lost on Town boulevards. They want to restore Aurora\u2019s enviable urban canopy that covers over 29% of the town and add to it through various initiatives available to local residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant offered insights into \u201cYour Leaf\u201d, a federal program that can be viewed at www.yourleaf.org, which defrays the cost of planting saplings or seedlings on private property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a government-subsidized backyard planting program in York Region that many residents have utilized and found to be useful.  The trees start small, but you get an arborist visit and the consulting fee comes off your planting cost. They only plant native trees, and sugar maple is definitely on their planting list, if that\u2019s what you want to replace your lost trees with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this federal program to plant trees as an active response to the perils of climate change, Chisholm explained the scope of the damage to the Town\u2019s canopy. He encouraged local residents to replace trees which have succumbed to disease, windstorms, or just old age: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of light in the forest. As we walked through the debris caused by the microburst, we noticed how much open sky is seen through the affected canopy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s evident that both arborists derive much satisfaction from their work and Bryant noted that \u201cWhen I\u2019m driving around Town, I see the trees I planted five to ten years ago. They\u2019ll be here long after I\u2019ve gone.  We have a lot of unique moments as a crew, too\u2014great moments in nature. The funniest thing about some of the people we meet is they want us to plant the biggest tree and they think that trees don\u2019t die. The most successful tree that we plant starts as a small one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chisholm\u2019s insights into making a difference to the Town\u2019s urban canopy merged with Bryant\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI share the same kind of satisfaction with Ian. Being able to get out and perform routine maintenance on the trees is like a playground for me. You can go back and see the positive effects on the tree. It\u2019s gratifying to see your impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complementing the message of his colleague, Bryant encapsulated the selflessness of planting trees: \u201cThe true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a message as poignant as Jean Giono\u2018s The Man Who Planted Trees (1953) and as timely as the hard-edged conservation strategies in Dave Foreman\u2019s Confessions of an Eco-Warrior (1991), Bryant\u2019s appeal to leave a leafy legacy is food for thought for residents who want to make a difference in a world in dire need of environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about getting new trees planted on town boulevards, contact The Town of Aurora at 905-727-3123 and leave messages for Ian Bryant and Cameron Chisholm regarding your choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Speaking from personal experience through my own request for three new trees on boulevards spanning Storrington Gate and Tribbling Crescent, Bryant\u2019s email response provided timely insights and sage advice on how to restore the beauty of the boulevard with a menu of trees best suited for urban conditions.\u00a0 Our stately Ash trees on Storrington, which we watered as saplings in the early 1990s, but succumbed sadly to the Emerald Ash Borer, will be replaced in the Spring with a White Oak and a Freeman Maple. A new addition on our north Tribbling boulevard will be an Accolade Elm. As Swedish biologist and conservationist Carl Linnaeus remarked over three hundred years ago, \u201cIf a tree dies, plant another in its place.\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Town of Aurora arborists Ian Bryant and Cameron Chisholm are looking forward to productive and restorative Fall projects after an especially troubling and challenging Summer. Over 1,000 trees, including 107 on Town boulevards, were destroyed in northwest Aurora during an early-July microburst that delivered 160 km\/h winds and fifteen minutes of climatic chaos. Millions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-a9p","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-08 17:13:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-01-08.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39025,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39023\/revisions\/39025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}