The Jan 24 Albertan carried a notice about Mountain View County's (MVC) roadside brushing program which “entails the removal of brush including small trees and brush from county ditches” designed “to enhance roadway visibility and safety."
From the middle of December until the end of January, we experienced this program.
We received a letter about brushing three weeks before it started. The “brushing" actually entailed removing one mile of mature trees, between 30-50 feet in height. This was requested by the landowners because the trees were encroaching into their fields. We understand that poplars sucker and can take up good crop land.
From the county perspective, these trees made it more difficult to push snow into the ditches; however, we haven’t experienced any problems on that section of road.
Our concerns related to losing an excellent windbreak and habitat for wildlife, reducing the snowmelt flooding that comes through the culvert and over the road onto our land every spring, and the impact to the environment generally.
We were told none of that mattered - the trees were coming down. In fact, in another location where none of the landowners wanted the trees removed, the county wanted them down and so they were being removed.
The landowners who made this request do not live along our road but a mile west where their buildings are sheltered by mature trees. Our buildings and horse paddocks are no longer sheltered and are now being buffeted by the prevailing winds.
The costs for brushing are considerable; we were told that a “couple of hundred thousand dollars” are budgeted each year. So, our tax dollars paid for the tree removal and now we will personally incur additional costs to create berms for flooding, more tree planting, and more horse shelters.
We are concerned about climate change and understand the role trees play in environmental sustainability. We have planted about 2,500 seedling trees and installed 60 solar panels.
We have maintained a wetland area on our property which is a home to many native species. We live and support ourselves on our property so it is to our benefit to ensure the sustainability of our land. We are now looking into supports for an eco-buffer through MVC’s sustainable agriculture.
We feel the loss of these trees in many ways and wonder what other process might have been followed to better meet everyone’s needs.
Dawne Clark,
Mountain View County
Cremona