Danger Trees Sway Debate

Local politicians are calling for more priority on removing dangerous trees on public land around Greater Vernon.

The Greater Vernon Advisory Committee was told there are a number of concerns, such as BX Creek Trail, but at this point, only three trees at Kin Beach will be taken down, as they’re the only ones to be assessed by an expert.

The tree’s support systems have been weakened from spring flooding.

“If the trees are a problem, let’s damn well do something about it, especially if they are near the road,” stated director Bob Spiers.

“There are a number of dangerous trees, and we’re getting the magnitude and spread of it,” said Regional District of North Okanagan CAO David Sewell. “There are varying degrees of liability. We are prioritizing what danger trees we do based on the budget.”

Director Akbal Mund agrees with budgeting more funds to deal with those types of trees.

“Until such time as someone goes out and assesses other areas, if we come up with trees that are dangerous to the public then we should remove those as well. The budget should not be a deterrent for safety for the general public,” Mund tells Kiss FM.

GVAC chair Juliette Cunningham says to this point, they haven’t allocated enough resources to asses and remove dangerous trees.

“We don’t have a handle on it. We might need to put more money into the budgets.”

The committee agreed to review policy and budgeting for dangerous tree removal.