In a bid to protect its trees from developers who consider them nuisances, this city is assigning a monetary value to every tree in its 100,000-plus urban forest. The value is how much people will have to pay if they yield to the urge to play lumberjack. Bringing down one wide and towering American elm on a boulevard in the city’s Varsity View will set you back $46,412. The price per tree is based on factors including age, replacement cost, species, size, location and condition, said Ian Birse, superintendent of urban forestry for the City of Saskatoon. Trees are quickly becoming endangered in the rush to capitalize on the city’s development boom. [CanWest]

Congratulations Saskatoon on such a progressive policy! The thing about the prairies is almost all trees out there are human planted, and are so rare that it becomes far more important to protect the few ones that are around. It seems to me that perhaps in Metro Vancouver we take for granted our natural geography and tend to think that there will always be other areas for preservation - until of course, you’ve wiped out almost all the natural areas. 

I was watching Disney’s Pocahontas the other day, and beyond the historical inaccuracies and amazing animation, it reminded me about North America’s place on Earth. This was, not too long ago, the New World. We had a blank slate. Watching the scene “Mine, Mine, Mine” and the contrast between Radcliffe’s and John Smith’s perspective on this state of affairs was particularly striking, as you can see below. 

John Smith obviously appreciates the beauty and virginity of the land and wants to move forward slowly with respect to nature. Radcliffe on the other hand is tearing everything down in pursuit of fame and riches. It’s not too difficult to imagine the same scenario even today between conservationists and reckless developers - not that I have anything wrong with development per say.

More than anything, this clip reminded me that we here in Surrey still have some of this blank slate remaining. For all the missteps and damage we have done to the land here in the New World, Surrey has an opportunity to make up for some of these follies. 

We can protect the few remaining urban forests that are left. We can stop tearing down acres of rural land - and let it be reclaimed by nature, rather than turned into suburban housing. We can refocus development in an effort to improve our existing urban areas. 

Surrey has a chance here in the next few years before the city is built out to make a radical, but necessary decision, for the benefit of all citizens here in the New World - just as Saskatoon is doing 1,600 km away.