The City of Parksville will be removing dead cedar trees in Renz Park and Mark’s Nature Park in the beginning of September.
Renz Park will be closed through Sept. 6, and Mark’s Nature Park will be closed from Sept. 6 to Sept. 19.
The work is part of the primary phase of tree removal in urban forests in the fall of 2019.
The dead trees in the parks have been inspected and will be monitored for up to three years.
Trees are removed as budget allows and not all dead cedars in the parks will be removed this year.
The city believes that drought conditions over the course of several years are to blame for the decline of the Western Red Cedar. Parksville’s average rainfall is recorded at 1326 millimetres per year — this has not been met since 2005. The city is considering replanting drought-resistant trees in the areas to preserve the urban canopy.
They say a variety of native deciduous and coniferous seedlings will be chosen to re-establish the canopy in parks once the rainy season moves in.
— NEWS Staff, submitted