By Dave Hurl
A new urban forest will grow alongside the Queensway this spring.
The regional project will see tress planted on both sides of the highway, starting with the area between Metcalfe and O’Connor streets. In coming years, more trees will be planted next to the highway in the hope that one day the forest will stretch from one end of Ottawa-Carleton to the other.
“The Queensway is not just a drive-through for trucks,” says Somerset regional Coun. Diane Holmes. “It should be a way to get to a very special place — the nation’s capital.”
Once grown, the trees will provide both a noise and pollution barrier for Ottawa residents living near the highway.
“Communities adjacent to the Queensway will benefit from cleaner air thanks to the trees,” says Holmes.
Another advantage will be the visual screen the trees will provide for both residents and passing motorists.
Holmes says the plan will make the Queensway look less like a provincial highway and more like a route through an urban centre.
John Leaning, a retired architect who was instrumental in developing the Centretown plan of the 1970s and ‘80s, first started talking about the idea nine years ago. He says he’s glad to see his plan finally come to fruition.
“I felt there was a big need for some more trees in this city, and there just happens to be a lot of land available here,” says Leaning.
An easier way to grow the urban forest would have been to stop cutting and spraying the grass alongside the Queensway, Leaning says, which would have allowed trees to grow in naturally.
“If we had started natural growth when I started talking about it we would have trees right now,” says Leaning.
But the problem is that the Ministry of Transportation controls the land in question and had resisted the urban forest plan for several years.
“We just couldn’t seem to convince the province to stop cutting (the grass),” says Holmes. But after years of struggling with the province, forestation is finally a go.
Craig Huff, the region’s urban forester is coordinating local efforts with the province. He says the province’s chief concerns were the cost of maintenance for the urban forest and obscuring the sight lines of motorists.
It took some time to get through the bureaucracy, says Huff. But once he did, the province seemed eager to move ahead with the idea.
“The plan is very achievable,” Huff says. “They aren’t huge trees and once they are established they are very low maintenance.”
But a major problem was deciding what trees to plant.
“Because of neglect and given the harshness of the ground only a couple of kinds of trees will grow there,” he says. A few varieties of coniferous trees have been chosen.
The trees are scheduled to be planted on April 29, by volunteers from both the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association and the Glebe Community Association. The trees will be planted in both communities.
The project will be funded by the region’s roadside greening and environmental enhancement budget.