Royal City Rag on March 20 had a distinctly environmental flavour.
We started off the show with a three song set featuring Daniel Lanois, Johnny Cash and James Gordon in honour of World Water Day, March 22.
Wellington Waterwatchers have a very special event taking place that day in the EL Fox Auditorium at John F Ross Collegiate from 7-10 p.m. At the event, high school students from Wellington County will showcase art and science projects created as part of the group’s Message in the Bottle campaign.
The evening will also feature the Guelph premiere of Tapped, an as yet unreleased documentary, by the producers of Who Killed The Electric Car, that takes a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated bottled water industry.
Spokenword artist Evalyn Parry and local band and Royal City Rag favourites Dancehall Free for All will also perform.
There will also a chance to learn about Blue W ( www.bluew.org ), a not-for-profit program dedicated to promoting municipal tap water as a healthy and waste-conscious alternative to bottled drinks.
Tickets are just $5 and available at The Bookshelf, at 10 Carden on Mondays and Wednesdays, and at the door. Students who have created a submission get in for free. The show starts at 7:00 pm and runs till 10:00 pm, but the doors will open at 6:00 pm to showcase submissions.
Celebrate World Water Day with Wellington Waterwatchers
Where: E.L. Fox Auditorium (J.F. Ross), 21 Meyer Dr. Guelph
When: March 22 from 7-10 p.m.
Tickets: $5, from The Bookshelf, at 10 Carden on Mondays and Wednesdays, and at the door.
Healthy Landscapes
Later in the first hour, we welcomed Karen McKeown back to the show to talk about Healthy Landscapes the City of Guelph program to help people develop their own healthy, environmentally-sustainable garden at their home or place of business.
Developing beautiful, healthy landscapes does not always mean hours of maintenance and ritualistic pesticide use. In fact, through some proper landscape planning, proactive maintenance, and proper plant selection, you will significantly reduce your requirements for weeding, watering, continued maintenance and eliminate the need for pesticides.
If you would like a free 30 minute on-site Landscape Assessment at your home or business address you can contact Karen McKeown at 519-822-1260 Ext. 2109 or healthylandscapes@guelph.ca.
Listen to Hour 1:
Trees
We started off the second hour of the show with a three song set about trees featuring Bruce Cockburn, Bluegrass Patriots and Kidzone.
Guelph citizens have been waiting for a new stronger protective tree by-law for over 19 years. In the meantime we continue to lose mature trees and canopy. Guelph’s urban forest canopy sits at 25%, while the desired level is 40%.
Local activist group, Guelph Urban Forest Friends (GUFF) are advocating for our urban trees, including a stronger protective tree bylaw and a separate urban forestry department with a certified forester to more effectively manage tree maintenance and coordinate public education on the value of our mature trees.
If you would like to help GUFF improve the lot of our urban trees, they can be contacted at guffguelph@gmail.com.
Pollination Guelph
Later in the second hour we were joined by Karen Landman, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph to talk about Pollination Guelph.
Pollination Guelph is a group dedicated to conserving and developing pollinator habitat. In partnership with the City of Guelph, they are developing Ontario’s first large-scale Pollinator Park on the site of the old East View landfill. Their annual symposium takes place on March 27 at the Orchard Park Centre at the Ignatius Centre, 5420 Hwy 6 North, Guelph. This year’s theme is “Pollinator Plantings, Great and Small” and will feature a number of speakers, a silent auction, pollination-related materials for sale and booths with information on pollination, pollinators, and other ecological topics. The cost is $30 for pre-registrants, or $35 at the door. Pre-registrations can be sent to pollinationguelph@gmail.com.
Download a copy of the symposium program
Download a copy of the plans for the Pollinator Park
Listen to Hour 2:
Music:
Daniel Lanois, Still Water from Acadie
Johnny Cash, Cool Water from American VI: Ain’t No Grave
James Gordon, Scam Of The Century from Just West Of Something Big
Bumblejums, Gardening from Meet The Bumblejums
Mo’ Kauffey, Dig It from Dig It
Bruce Cockburn, If A Tree Falls from Anything Anytime Anywhere
Bluegrass Patriots, Why Do You Weep Dear Willow? from Springtime In the Rockies
Kidzone, Plant A Tree from Reduce Reuse Recycle
Darren Archer, Pollination from Amnesia
Denim Dirt Farmers, Pollination Dance from Salad Days
Big Mama Thornton, Big Mama’s Bumblebee Blues from With The Muddy Waters Blues Band
























































Weird Numbers Part 2: The Natural Heritage Strategy Tree Replacement Equation or ‘Two Tens for a Five Anybody?’
March 9, 2010 by Jan Andrea Hall
Bob Gordon
Weird Numbers Part 2: The Natural Heritage Strategy Tree Replacement Equation or ‘Two Tens for a Five Anybody?’
Bob Gordon, Freelance Journalist/Royal City Rag Contributor
The Draft Natural Heritage Strategy includes a tree replacement policy that contains two components. The first compenent establishes that any trees removed must be replaced and introduces an equation to calculate the replacement value of a given tree. The second, introduces the concept of cash in lieu of trees.
Unfortunately, the first component is nonsensical while the second is meaningless.
The current draft policies require that if a tree is removed trees totaling an equal diameter must replace it. The example below will demonstrate the absurdity of this mathematical reasoning.
Consider first the removal of a tree of 40 centimeters diameter at breast height. The current policy would permit this tree to be considered replaced if 8 saplings of 5 centimeters diameter at breast height were to be planted.
Briefly consider the area of the tree removed (40 centimeters diameter at breast height). Area = πr2 = 3.14 x (20×20) = 1256 square centimeters.
The area of the 5cm diameter saplings replacing it will be πr2 x 8 = 3.14 x (2.5×2.5) x 8 = 157 square centimeters.
Thus, removal of one tree of 40 centimeters diameter at breast height can be compensated with its replacement by 8 saplings (of 5cm diameter) but only 12.5% of its area.
Now consider replacement of the tree by 16 saplings of 2.5 centimeters diameter at breast height.
The area of these trees will be πr2 x 16 = 3.14 x (1.25×1.25) x 16 = 78.5 square centimeters.
Half Dead Oak Sapling - Now you see me, now you don't!
Thus, removal of one tree of 40 centimeters diameter at breast height can be compensated with its replacement by 16 saplings (of 2.5cm diameter) but only 6.25% of its area.
Clearly, the proposed policy is inadequate.
Comparison of the areas of the crowns of the trees would reveal an even greater imbalance. Leaf Area Index or Canopy Cover is a much more accurate measure. Using this type of measure would significantly increase the number of replacement trees required.
At the very least basal area (area at ground level) should be employed as the replacement standard.
The draft Natural Heritage states, “Where planting either on or off site is not feasible, cash-in-lieu will be required equal to the value of the replacement trees and shrubs and including the cost of planting and maintaining the trees for a period of two years.”
While this proposal may sound wonderfully ‘green’ and hard on developers it is not, nor is it hard on the city. It is hard, only on the urban forest.
Consider, the cash value of a tree will be calculated based on the value of replacement trees. However, in light of the above noted formula the developer is receiving a kiss. Consider that the removal of a single tree may create a whole new building lot at the cost of only a handful of saplings. That is a great deal for a developer but hard on the urban forest.
As far as the city is concerned a cut down tree is a bargain at any price. No where does the policy hold the city to any commitment to spend the cash-in-lieu received on trees. It can go to anything from snow clearing at city hall to trips for councilors or catered meals before meetings. There is simply no guarantee that the money received in lieu of trees will be used for trees and not simply disappear into general revenue.
That is good for the city but not the urban forest.
Bob Gordon
bob34g@gmail.com
Guelph Urban Forest Friends have been advocating for our urban trees, including a stronger protective tree bylaw and a separate urban forestry department with a certified forester to more effectively manage tree maintenance and coordinate public education on the value of our mature trees.
If you feel strongly about this issue, please contact Mayor and Council.
Tell them to get the Strategic Urban Forestry Management Plan completed and a strong protective bylaw passed. Let them know that the protection and management of our urban forest will be an election issue this October.
Contacting Guelph City Council
Mayor Farbridge: mayor@guelph.ca
Ward 1: Bob Bell bob.bell@guelph.ca, Kathleen Farrelly kathleen.farrelly@guelph.ca
Ward 2: Vicki Beard vicki.beard@guelph.ca, Ian Findlay ian.findlay@guelph.ca
Ward 3: Maggie Laidlaw maggie.laidlaw@guelph.ca, June Hofland june.hofland@guelph.ca
Ward 4: Gloria Kovach gloria.kovach@guelph.ca, Mike Salisbury mike.salisbury@guelph.ca
Ward 5: Lise Burcher lise.burcher@guelph.ca, Leanne Piper leanne.piper@guelph.ca
Ward 6: Christine Billings christine.billings@guelph.ca, Karl Wettstein karl.wettstein@guelph.ca
Don’t know your ward? Click here to see the map
Posted in Commentary | Tagged City of Guelph, Guelph Urban Forest Friends, GUFF, Natural Heritage Strategy, Strategic Urban Forest Management Plan, Trees | 1 Comment »