The past year in Burnaby has seen a lot of talking and protesting against the cutting of more than 1,300 local trees to make way for the Trans Mountain pipeline.
But it doesn’t necessarily hit home until you actually see one of these majestic trees getting chainsawed into the ground.
Embedded into this story is video of the destruction of one of those trees that’s located just west of North Road and south of Highway 1 in Burnaby.
“This tree is called Eagle,” tweeted @Honu139, who posted the video. “It was a beautiful cottonwood in the Brunette watershed. It sheltered our … tree sitters at the original Holmes Creek camp. #TransMountain killed it today to make way for a toxic bitumen pipeline.”
Just watch the video and try not to feel sick.
A reminder that the City of Burnaby fought the cutting of these trees, saying that the city's tree bylaw should be the ultimate rule. That argument was overruled. At one point, the cutting of trees was halted due to fears that bird nests would be disrupted, but the work is now continuing.
A group of tree sitters are occupying some of the trees in the path of the pipeline. People have been doing this for more than a year and now they say they are “under siege” after contractors erected blue fencing around their protest site recently.
This tree is called Eagle. It was a beautiful cottonwood in the Brunette watershed. It sheltered our #PPST treesitters at the original Holmes Creek camp. #TransMountain killed it today to make way for a toxic bitumen pipeline. #1308trees #stopTMX https://t.co/gdZvxkyNnG #UNDRIP pic.twitter.com/VK1ZxhD0Pj
— Honu139 (@honu139) September 18, 2021
Tree sitters have included Maureen Curran, the federal Green candidate running in Burnaby South, who occupied one of the trees on Labour Day.
Curran says that the tree sitters fear an attempt to extract them from the trees will come any day now, but that this will be difficult for several reasons.
“For one, the canopy is tied up with a spiderweb of ropes, which may deter arborists. Also the surrounding terrain is steep and thickly vegetated, with no even ground. The treetop camp itself is fortified in such a way that makes the trees difficult to climb.”
Timothée Govare, one of the tree sitters, said in a news release: “Speaking on behalf of our grassroots coalition, we are here for future generations and for the trees; for everyone and for all life. Trudeau may have authorized the destruction of our first two treehouses at Holmes Creek, and authorized the extinction of salmon runs and endangered species along the pipeline route, but we will keep coming back. We won’t back down. Our commitment to delay or cancel construction of this project is unshakable.”
The NOW asked Trans Mountain why the fencing had been put in place and received an emailed statement.
“When it comes to our operations and construction sites, safety is our first priority - safety of our workers, communities and everyone near our facilities,” said the statement. “And to that end, we will make every effort to ensure we can carry out our work and operations safely. This includes fencing around construction sites as seen in the Brunette River area which will remain in place until construction is complete.”
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
