GuelphToday received the following letter to the editor to pay tribute to a downed sugar maple.
Obituary: The Downed Sugar Maple in my Park
Born likely around the 1920-30s; died in mid-August 2023
Truth be told, you were never my favorite. After all, your neighbourly cousins are veritable giants, here since before Guelph was Guelph. You possessed neither their stature, nor their reach. You, leaderless, weren't even as tall as you should have been.
And yet I still loved you. I can't even begin to imagine how many others did too – not just today, but going back the perhaps 100 years you lived.
How many children, like mine, found refuge from the rays under your arms; hid behind you from seekers; watered you in a pinch; swung at piñatas you generously dangled?
How many more could have done so but will have to wait patiently until perhaps their grandchildren finally see your successors absorb sufficient carbon from the atmosphere to replace your canopy?
If only we had known of the plans to cut your life short. Was doing so really necessary? Perhaps we may have been able to intervene--not only for you but for all those generations of children, past, present, future.
I wonder what the forester wielding the saw was thinking when they downed you... what the city staff directing the action considered… how often this happens in our parks and public lands... whether our elected officials are satisfied with their policies and strategies on community engagement, urban canopy, climate adaptation, etc… If we can't get the easy things right, what hope have we in tackling the big challenges of our time, from housing and cost of living, to climate change, to reconciliation?
One thing is certain: I will deeply miss you, dear Sugar Maple.
Tom Ewart
