Arbor Week is celebrated in Canada from the last Friday of April to the first Sunday in May. In honour of Arbor Week, here’s a glimpse of Hamilton trees by the numbers.
The number of trees the city of Hamilton planted in 2013 as part of its Street Tree Planting Program. Under the program, homeowners can ask for the city to plant trees on the road allowance in front of their homes, and the city does it free of charge. It costs the city about $1.5 million a year.
While it’s unknown how many trees were damaged as a result of the Christmas-time ice storm of 2013, that’s how many calls the city fielded about damaged trees, spokesperson Kelly Anderson says. It was unusually hard on local trees. That’s compared to 1,200 the year before. The storm was so damaging to local trees that crews are still cleaning up the brush.
That’s the number of endangered butternut trees that obstructed construction of the Queen Street Hill last year. Actually, there were 40, but one in particular near the road was resistant to a deadly strain of the disease that’s killing other butternuts. The city installed a protective barrier to make sure the tree wasn’t damaged. Crews finished the construction, two months overdue and nearly $1 million over budget, in November 2013.
Number of ash trees the city of Hamilton will chop down over the next 10 years because of the emerald ash borer. The invasive species has eaten its way through southern Ontario, killing nearly every ash tree in its wake. The city will spend $26.2 million over that time to cut and replant.
The number of ash trees the city will attempt to save by injecting them with an expensive insecticide called TreeAzin.
That’s the height — in feet — of the tallest tree on Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) lands. It’s a tulip tree, which is a species native to the Carolinian zone. It’s located at the Westdale Ravine Trail at Cootes Paradise.
The age, in years, of the oldest tree on RBG lands. It’s a white cedar along the escarpment trail.
The number of endangered tree species on RGB property. They are the Kentucky coffee tree, American chestnut, red mulberry, blue ash, paw paw and honey locust.