An arborist who specializes in urban forestry says the massive loss of trees in Ontario and Quebec over the weekend due to a severe storm will keep happening if land-use planning doesn’t change.
Dr. Danijela Puric-Mladenovic, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, said she wasn’t surprised when thousands of trees were uprooted and destroyed by the deadly storm that swept through the province on Saturday because trees in urban and suburban settings are from nurseries and planted in soil that is very shallow.
“We talk about puppy mills, right? Because it’s a terrible practice. And that’s literally what we do with trees,” said Puric-Mladenovic, who saw dozens of trees felled in her Whitby, Ont., subdivision….