Support a Tree By-Law in Pickering

“Sustainability connects the environment, the economy and the society. All three are important and all three must be integrated” (quote from the City of Pickering Website).

The City of Pickering appears to be a "Sustainable City". If you go to their website and click on "Sustainable Pickering", you will see a lot of information about what Pickering plans to do. However, Pickering is dragging its feet on tree protection. It is not doing enough to protect the forests and large trees that are located outside of what the city defines as the “Tree Protection Area”. This protected area covers very little (if any) private property, leaving the vast majority of trees unprotected. One can draw the conclusion that Pickering does not consider the forests and trees to be a significant issue.

The Councillors seem willing to sit by while developers and private residents cut down large old trees, and there is currently nothing that you or I are able to do to stop them. It seems as if the Councillors are in a race to develop all of Pickering’s natural areas before finally enacting a by-law to protect what is left. What will be left will not be the same Pickering that we live in today.

This is not acceptable for a city that claims to be making "efforts to make Pickering the most sustainable city in Canada" (quote from City of Pickering website). Let’s tell the Council of the Corporation of the City of Pickering to make the environment a higher priority in their “Sustainable Pickering” plans. Let’s make them live up to their word and ask that they protect the trees and forests in Pickering so that they can be enjoyed by everyone in the city today and in the future. Don’t sit and watch while Pickering is transformed into yet another concrete jungle.