In September, when Queen Elizabeth II died, Squamish's Amy Fenton and her family marked her death in a way a little different than many folks in town.
She set up a small, temporary memorial for the Queen at the copper beech tree at Ruff Stuff Doggy Daycare on Government Road.
This is the tree that her grandmother, Ruth Fenton, planted in 1937 in commemoration of the coronation of King George VI.
"She was May Queen at the time, and this was the site of the Brackendale School. I felt it a fitting location to be able to take a moment to remember the Queen," Amy Fenton explained to The Squamish Chief.
Her grandma turns 97 on Oct. 22.
While the current owners of the property are taking good care of the tree, Fenton worries that down the road, at some point, a different owner may decide to cut it down.
She would like to see it get heritage protection.
"Our concern is more just with Squamish growing and people coming and going that with it being a piece of property that's desirable — it's a slightly larger piece of property — if someone were to buy it and not want the tree there, because it does take up part of the property and it is a lot of work with all the leaves that fall; if someone doesn't have an appreciation for it, and they want it gone, and there's nothing protecting it," she said. "Well, there's a part of our history and our heritage gone."
Ruff Stuff Doggy Daycare sent The Squamish Chief a statement about the tree on its property.
“We would love to see our copper beech tree receive heritage status,” the emailed statement read. “It is a truly beautiful tree with a lot of meaning for many people here in Squamish, including us.”
The tree holds a story of a history of Squamish that not everyone knows, Fenton said.
"It is really neat to have people understand that Squamish goes way back. It may seem like logging is our only history, but there are other little bits and pieces, too, right?"
Fenton said that with the District of Squamish creating a new Heritage Management Strategy, she is hopeful the copper beech tree can be part of it.
"If it dies because of natural factors, then sure, it is what it is, but it would be nice just to have it protected. So no one can actually cut it down."
The tree appears to be in great shape, Fenton said. "And it is massive, like the canopy when you stand underneath …. It’s beautiful. It's huge. So it's really nice to know that it's healthy and it's in good shape."
Heritage strategy in 2023
The District said that there are no current protections for the tree.
“The District’s Tree Management Bylaw incentivizes people to preserve trees, especially those over 80 cm in diameter; however, there are no municipal powers to preserve particular trees on private property unless they are in an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) such as a riparian zone. In this case, the tree doesn’t appear to be close enough to an ESA for that to be a decisive factor.” the District's Rachel Boguski said in an emailed statement.
“The Community Charter enables municipalities to identify trees as significant for their heritage, landmark or wildlife habitat value, and protect and manage them as community heritage resources. The District is currently developing a Heritage Management Strategy that will be presented to council later in 2023, which will consider expanded protection of both tangible and intangible heritage values as well as natural ones, like the tree identified by the Fenton family.”
Balancing interests
University of Victoria's Valentin Schaefer, a biologist and ecologist, said as development progresses in many communities, this creates pressure to cut down trees that are of significance to locals.
"The community identifies this as an important tree and lobbies council to protect it, and that's how it's done," he said.
Noting trees that are significant to wildlife, such as bald eagles or blue heron nesting sites, can be protected under Section 34 of the provincial Wildlife Act.
Beyond their sentimental or wildlife value, heritage trees have ecological importance, Schaefer said.
"From a natural history perspective, these heritage trees are usually — using a metaphor here — the knowledge keepers. So they've been in that situation for quite a while. And they have ... fungal associations in the soil and communities in the soil or surrounding plant communities, which are dependent on them. And, if they're compromised in any way, then that bit of that ecosystem is lost. And it's very difficult to regain," he said.
"Lots of times people say, 'Well, if you're going to take down the tree, you can just plant to replace it,' but it's not the same ... You put two little seedlings, that's not the same as a mature tree that's been there for decades, establishing an ecosystem and there's a balance there in the soil and in the community, which has occurred over time and takes time to establish. You're not going to establish it instantaneously by putting a couple [seedlings] in the ground. And that's something you need to protect because that's part of the legacy of the community: to have that kind of investment of time and nature in a particular site. And you don't get that back very quickly. You don't want to lose it."
Sometimes, though, human needs have to come before established older trees.
On Shelbourne Street in Victoria, Schaefer noted, dozens of London plane and cypress trees have been cut to make way for protected bike lanes and for the replacement of infrastructure, such as water and sewer drains.
"So the trees get taken out for the safety of the cyclist. There's that balancing that has to occur. But certainly, in general, I think you need to preserve and respect heritage trees as much as possible."
