Dear Editor:
In mid June, my husband and I planted a tree in Belsyde Cemetery in Fergus, at the end of the row where our son is buried. We watered it, fertilized it and even put a white rabbit wrap around it to protect it.
That tree, a crimson king red maple, was there July 27 when we went to water the flowers at the cemetery. Imagine our surprise on July 31 when we went to water again and the tree was gone.
I did a rant on Facebook that night, but I also called the person in charge of looking after the cemetery and left her a message. She did call me back the next day and told me Township of Centre Wellington forestry personnel had deemed our tree a “weed” tree and an “invasive” tree.
She told us she hadn’t been aware the tree had been removed until she received my call, but after following up on my phone call, that’s what she had been told. I asked where the tree was as I would like it back to plant in our own yard. She told me it had been disposed of.
I told her I thought one of her employees had probably planted it in their own yard as it had been dug out and the hole filled in again.
So, once again, imagine our surprise as we realized an older crimson king red maple planted in the same stretch of road as ours is still standing. It is on the opposite side of the road at the opposite end of where ours was planted.
For some reason it was not deemed a “weed” tree and “invasive.” I once again reached out to the person in charge of the cemetery, but this time I have not had a call back. In my message on her answering machine, I told her about the other tree and that I wanted ours replaced. We will plant it in our own yard.
Our question is; why couldn’t they have attached a notice to our tree stating that it was going to be removed within a certain timeframe? My other question is why was the other tree, which is about 15 years old, not removed as well?
To me a tree is a tree and we need all the trees we can get with all the wildfires burning and destroying millions of trees.
Libby Darroch,
Fergus