“Trees can be managed, but they cannot be controlled. The only way to eliminate all risk is to eliminate all trees.” – Arborist Disclosure Statement to multiple municipalities.

“Trees can be managed, but they cannot be controlled. The only way to eliminate all risk is to eliminate all trees.”

– Arborist Disclosure Statement to multiple municipalities.

By Sasha Izard

June 21, 2025

In a previous article, I wrote:

The Fate of one of the Last Surviving Garry Oak Groves in Cadboro Bay Hangs in the Balance: The District of Saanich Doesn’t Appear to Know What Will Happen to it. – CRD Watch Homepage

The article was about a redevelopment in Cadboro Bay at 2737 Tudor Ave on 10 Mile Point, which has resulted in a vast clearance on a Garry Oak bluff for Bill-44 allowed multi-unit housing infill on a single lot aka so-called ‘missing middle housing’.

When complete, it will not by any stretch of the imagination be affordable housing, although it should be noted that the founder of Cadillac Homes the company which is doing the development, Cam Pringle is currently serving on Saanich’s HOUSING AFFORDABLE STANDING COMMITTEE.

————————————————————————————————–

On March 26, 2025 I sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the District of Saanich for all records/documents of arborists report(s) showing any trees that are and/or were rotten, or facing other health issues at 2737 Tudor Ave.

Date range Jan 1, 2022 – March 26, 2025

Thank you,
Sasha Izard

—————————————————————————————————

On April 28, 2025 I received the FOI response from Saanich in an 87 page pdf. File: 2025-64.

What stood out the most to myself and others in the file was a haunting line from the Arborist Disclosure Statement, that brought to my mind historical images of aerial defoliation of the countryside in the Vietnam War, rather than what I’d expect attached to an arborist assessment held by the District of Saanich in regard to a property on one of the last surviving documented Garry Oak eco-system belts in the Cadboro Bay area:

“Trees can be managed, but they cannot be controlled. The only way to eliminate all risk is to eliminate all trees.”

————————————————————————————————–

This Arborist Disclosure Statement was not alone. It has been used for reports by SouthShore Forest Consultants submitted to a number of municipalities.

The following are screenshots from their home page Southshoretrees.com at the time of writing:

A quick Google Search revealed links to a number of their assessments for municipal properties, all of which contained the same Arborist Disclosure statement:

“Trees can be managed, but they cannot be controlled. The only way to eliminate all risk is to eliminate all trees.”

The following is from a report for a property in Duncan:

Here is another one for a property in the City of Victoria.

filestream.ashx

————————————————————————————————–

Conclusion:

Would eliminating all trees eliminate all risk, as is made in the claim, or would it create serious new risks including through desertification and increased susceptibility to heat dome effects, as well as play a role in ecological collapse?

The line is open to interpretation. It could make some sense as a statement that reduces liability. However, I don’t think it’s the best statement to be adding to a report submitted to government, given the very reality that vast swathes of mature trees have and are being eliminated by development on Southern Vancouver Island and across the Province under the guise of public interest (mainly so a commonly propounded narrative runs to address the housing crises, although mathematically addressing affordability is practically never in the picture in this narrative). Natural habitat loss from development is one of the main causes of ecological destruction and biodiversity loss, something the Province of BC and local governments prefer to downplay and ignore, as they advance a profit/market-driven development agenda at nature’s expense.

Can you imagine a patient walking into a doctor’s office and the doctor, having taken the Hippocratic Oath; in order to limit liability says, the only way to eliminate all risk, is to eliminate the patient?

As I was informed in a Jan 26, 2022 email by Ross Wilkinson Acting Supervisor of Urban Forestry in regard to my inquiries regarding mature trees that from my and other’s view appeared visually to be in healthy condition, being removed in the City of Victoria:

“There is no Hippocratic oath that relates to Arborists, or the practice of Arboriculture. While it is true that in some parts of the world Arborists are called Tree Surgeons, it is here that the similarity ends between the treatment of diseased trees and diseased people.”

It doesn’t take a tree doctor however, to both see and realize that the urban forest and the ancient ecology that it supports is rapidly collapsing on Southern Vancouver Island in the face of an onslaught of overwhelming development.

Published by

CRD Watch

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: Arborist Report, BC Bill 44, Bill 44, Cadboro Bay, City of Victoria, District of Saanich, Duncan, environment, FOI, Garry Oak Eco-system, Missing Middle, Missing middle housing, SSMUH

One response to ““Trees can be managed, but they cannot be controlled. The only way to eliminate all risk is to eliminate all trees.” – Arborist Disclosure Statement to multiple municipalities.”

Deborah Dickson

June 22, 2025 at 12:46 pm

Excellent letter Sasha.

The disclosure statement you quote was also noted in the file on a project on Burchett Place last year. I had been following this subdivision file for 3 years and then itv ell off the agenda, so I contacted Plannning to ask about. I was told I could view it at City Hall.

When I arrived at the Planning counter staff brought me the file. She then advised me the file could not be removed from the premises, photocopied or photographed and was directed to sit in the chair at the end of the counter.

When came to Southshore’s disclosure statement I asked if I could talked notes? The answer was yes, so I wrote out the disclosure statement. That was over a year ago, in March 2024.

Saanich is complicit to the destruction of the tree Canopy, in my opinion.

This weekend I heard that Saanich’s new Bird is the Great Horned Owl. I nearly lost it, laughing and crying at the same time. It is common knowledge that the Great Horned Owl only survive/exist in the Tree Canopy. Once again Saanich is complicit in the destruction of Habitat for the Great Horned Owl.

LikeLike

Reply

Share this:

One response to ““Trees can be managed, but they cannot be controlled. The only way to eliminate all risk is to eliminate all trees.” – Arborist Disclosure Statement to multiple municipalities.”

Leave a comment Cancel reply