Rattled by derecho, homeowners face tree removal dilemma

If you lived through the powerful derecho stormthat knockedmany thousands of trees down across Ottawa in May, chances are you or someone you know has confessed to feeling anxietywithevery new thunderstorm warning.

Cathy Malcolm Edwardsknows the sensationwell.

She thinks themassive coniferin her Carlington front yard posesa serious risk of fallingin bad weather and shouldbe removed, but at the same time it's a tree she respects for its contribution to the environment.

She's amongmany homeowners caught between a rock and a hard place;who, afterthousands upon thousands of trees were destroyed in the derecho,find themselves jugglingtwo competing fearsof climate change being made worse by a lack of trees, and of the trees around them being made more dangerous by aneffectof climate change:increasingly severe weather.

WATCH |What some of the derecho damage looked like from above

What some of the derecho damage looked like from above

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This drone video shows extensive damage in Ottawas Blossom Park neighbourhood after a severe thunderstorm swept through on May 21. (Video by David Johnson)

"It's a very difficult situation to be in," Malcolm Edwards said in an interview under the big pinein early July, when shenoticed for the first time that it's starting to lean, slightlybut perceptibly, toward thehouse.

City earlier said tree was healthy, shouldn't be removed

Its trunk sitson the dividing line between the city-ownedportion of lawn near the roadand theproperty she shares with her partner, Jeffrey Edwards.

About three years ago, a city arboristsaid the tree couldn't be taken down because it was healthy.But the employee also told themthat if it does fall, it would be up to the couple to clean up and handle the costs.

They said they feel stuck, and increasingly concerned after the big storm in May.

"These problems get thrown onto the homeowner every time," said Devin Runge, a certified arborist and owner of D&D Tree Service, who pulleddowned trees off homes, garages and morenon-stop for weeks afterthe May 21 storm passed through Ontario and Quebec, killingat least 10 people.

As an arborist, Runge knows the benefits of trees better than most. But after aroofnearly collapsed on him as his crewremoved amangled tree, and after seeing "the worst of the worst"in damage for months, he's clearly unsettled.

In thesame interview, he said people should relaxabout theirtreesand then soundsthe alarm.

"I would say don't be scared. There's always a storm, but a lot of these trees are actually OK. We had a badchain of events leading up to the storm with all the rain andthe root systems were able to kind of slip out of the ground. The trees are beautiful. Don't think about it.Make sure you're insured and keep enjoying the trees," he said.

And then, later on: "But no tree is going to survive 180 kilometre[-per-hour] winds. It doesn'tmatter how healthy the tree is.I don't want to scare people, but that's the reality that we're in at the same time, right?"

City wants to protect, expandtree cover

The city is trying to protect and expand its tree canopyto cover40 per cent of itslands (up from 31 per cent in 2017).

To help achieve that, therecently strengthened tree bylaw requireshomeowners to getspecial permits to remove trees 30 centimetres in diameter at breast height or larger inside the Greenbelt (the inner urban area), and 50 centimetres in diameter outside the Greenbelt.

WATCH | How can the city create a resilient canopy?

After the derecho, a new challenge how to make more resilient forest canopies

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Jason Pollard, a section manager with the City of Ottawa's forestry department, says the severe thunderstorm in late May sparked concerns about how to protect the tree canopy from future weather events.

Rungesaid he doesn't think itstrikes the right balance between property protection and environmental protection, but he doesn't know what would.

"Telling someone they need a permit [to remove]a big tree and ifit comes downit's going to total the entire house,I don't know if that's the right thing to do, either. Just from the devastation that I've seen and how it just turns people's lives upside down it's insane," he said.

"And these windstorms seem to keep happening.It's not going to stop. So what is the solution?"

Standard home insurance covers falling tree damage

The good news is thatstandard home insurance policies do cover flying debris from windstorms, including whentreesfall and damage homes or outbuildings, according to Rob dePruis, the Insurance Bureau of Canada's national director of consumer and industry relations.

And contrary to popular opinion, if atree on your property falls onto a neighbour's lotduring a windstorm and causes damage to their property, theirhome insurance covers it, not yours, dePruis said.

In either scenario, you could only be denied coverage or held responsible if the fallen tree is found to have been inpoor condition and wasn'tproperlymaintained.

That's why it's important to have trees regularlyinspected, pruned and treated for any problems. Ifyou notice a tree on your property isshowingsigns of decline dying branches, smaller leaves, canopy loss, a sudden or gradual lean have it dealt with immediatelyby hiring a certified andinsuredarboristto inspect it, provide advice and undertake any recommended maintenance.

Call city to deal with problematic city-ownedtrees

If it's atree on the city-owned portion of lawn that you're worried about, file a request with the city to have it inspected and dealt with.

As for vehicles being hit by fallen trees and branches, standard automobile insurance will not cover that type of damage. Optional comprehensive coverage is needed, de Pruis said.

"Trees do provide a lot of benefits, but there can be some inherent dangers when you have some major severe weather. We just need to make sure that people are maintaining them properly and also to make sure that they're not creating hazardous situations," he said.

After the derecho, Runge saidhe's hadhomeowners askto cut down healthy trees out of fear of future property damage.

The city, meanwhile, said it hasn'tseen an increase in tree removal permit requests after the storm.

They do come inbut not often, and when they do forestry staff assess the tree and "may recommend pruning and regular monitoring to alleviate concerns over tree failure," Jason Pollard,a section manager for Ottawa's forestry department, wrote in an email.

In fact, the city hasbeen inundated with requests to plant more trees, and they're still coming in.

"In the six weeks since the storm, we have received approximately the equivalent of six months of requests for residential tree planting," Pollard wrote.