Ottawa airport facing calls to replace felled Hunt Club trees

UPDATE| City council carried a motionon Jan. 24, 2024 introduced by River Coun. Riley Brockington to request the airportto plant an equivalent number of trees to those which were clearcut. Councillors Laura Dudas and Matt Luloff dissented.

The Ottawa International Airport Authority could soon be asked to replace thousands of trees recently cleared from a Hunt Club Road plantation beloved by many nearby residents.

The red pine forest thatstoodat 400 Hunt Club Rd. was originallyplanted for the purpose of cultivating telephone poles. The10-hectare lot now sits empty, encircled by piles of felled trees.

"Theirloss has been truly a loss for our community," said RiverCoun. Riley Brockington. "Nowwhen you drive by there [it's]just the vast area of nothing, fallen trees and stumps It's very hard to see."

Localresidents fought to preserve the woodlot, whichis leased by the federal government to the airport authority and has long been slated fordevelopment.

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Even now, hardly a day goes by without a smattering of posts on the Save Hunt Club Forest social media page.

They includesingalong protest videos, online petitions and shared memoriesample evidence of some residents' strong emotional ties to the forestand of relationships strainedby itsdestruction.

Brockingtonbelieves the rift between the airport and the community can still be bridgedwithout sacrificing development plans for the property.

He'll put forward a motion at next week's city council meeting to request the airport authority replace the lost trees, but not on the site where they once stood.

Airport saw trees as unsafe

When the airport authority was created in 1997, it gained control of Transport Canada land that includes the once-wooded lot onHunt Club.

Krista Kealey, theauthority's vice-president of communications and public affairs, said the lotwas already marked as commercial and, more significantly, had long been neglected.

"It wasn't maintained prior to us taking responsibility for it," Kealey said. "There was a lot of risk inherent in that plantation, and so we felt that it was in the community's best interest to block access to it."

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That meant addingsigns, chains and fences all of which local residents ignored, Kealey said.

"I understand that people are looking for green space to enjoy, and if it were a safer environmentwe probably would have left thetrees there until such a timeas there was a development planned for it," she added.

The airport authority said expert arboristsassessed the plantation as a "tangible and immediate threat to public safety." One of the cited experts, hired by the city to considerplans to turn the area into a parking lot,said he never reached that conclusion.

Brockingtonhas another explanation for the airport's decision to clear the forest: future development.

"That's why the trees came down," he said."The trees came down so they can start to market the property."

Residents fight to keep access

MikeVorobej has been a driving force behind the movement to save the treesand was there when both the first and the last red pine wascut down.

"We should have never reached this point.But having reached that point, we're here today, and for the futurewe're fighting for this land that's behind us," he saidfrom aparking lot overlooking the snow-covered space.

Vorobejtakes issue with the airport authority's treatment oflocal residents"how dismissive they are toward us, how disdainful" and with how little dialoguethere has been.

The airport authority did go through a full public consultation process whiledraftingits 2018 master plan. The document laid out the authority's development strategy for the coming decadeand reinforced the property's designation as commercial land.

Brockington and severalother councillorshad hopedairport officials wouldsit down with the community to further discuss their plans before cutting began.

Ottawa South MP David McGuinty declined an interview, but his office said hejoined Brockington in those calls.

No immediate development planned

While he supports Brockington's ongoing efforts at city hall, Vorobejworries the councillor'smotion is similar to a "get out of jail free card" for the airport authority.

Instead, he'd like to see the land returned to public use with new vegetation.

If you're going to remove trees, I do think you have to give strong consideration about replacing them.- Coun. Riley Brockington

Brockington feels that's a "non-starter" for the airport authority.

He said this planis "not a gotcha campaign" but a genuine attempt to rebuild relationships and replace lost green space.

"Don't get me wrong, I support the airport overall. I want to see a strong, viable airport," he said.

"Butin the same breath, I do believe they have an environmental responsibility. If you're going to remove trees, I do think you have to give strong consideration about replacing them."

When asked if the tree-for-tree proposal could work, Kealeycould not say, but she emphasized that the city had its chance to save the trees.

"We engaged with the councillors and we had those discussions with the city and we looked at the potential land swap options and they just weren't viable options," she said.

"We've done our part there."

The land will eventually be developed, she said, but the airport has not yet put it on the market. The trees themselves will be sold as timber or used as fuel to generate energy.

Read the consultant's assessment of the red pine plantation: