Arborist

‘Just like us, trees deserve to live’

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , ,

By Madeline Kerr

Students at Wakefield Elementary are learning how to save lives – the lives of trees, that is. 

On May 20, local certified arborist, Paul Hetzler, visited a handful of Grade 5 and 6 students who make up part of the Green Project, a student group that meets weekly to discuss ways to advocate for the environment, to give them expert tips on caring for some of the trees that surround the Wakefield school. 

Many of these trees are growing well, Hetzler noted, but at least one tree – a young, frail sugar maple on the edge of the school’s playground – is struggling to stay alive. 

The members of the Green Project have been concerned with the maple’s well-being for some time now. A few months ago, several of them noticed that other students were breaking off its branches and gouging its bark, leading to lasting damage. A few weeks earlier, they worked together to create a large handpainted wooden sign, encouraging others to treat the tree with respect, and hung it on a nearby fence. The sign reminds students that “Trees breathe too!” and implores them: “Please do not stomp, rip, or break me!!”  

“Well, it’s definitely in rough shape,” Hetzler confirmed, when the Green Project members led him to the maple, adding, “This is a real shame.”  

Besides sustaining damage to its exterior, Hetzler speculated the tree might not be getting enough nutrients from the soil. He showed the students how to test the pH of the soil, using a kit that he brought with him. 

“You know how the back of a cereal box tells you how much iron or riboflavin you’re getting in your breakfast? Well, trees need nutrients too. But soil with a high pH means that nutrients aren’t available to the tree,” Hetzler explained to the students. 

He continued to say that a high pH means the soil is alkaline, and it’s indicated by a blue or purple colour upon testing. 

“What colour is that?” he asked the students, holding up the results. “Purple!” they answered in unison. 

To counteract the soil’s high pH, Hetzler recommended adding a teaspoon of sulfur to the ground near the base of the tree. 

Despite the soil’s quality, after examining the maple’s spindly trunk and the stumps where its branches used to be, Hetzler told the students he saw enough regrowth to declare: “Although I can’t guarantee anything, I think this tree might make it.”

The students cheered.

Hetzler commended the Green Project for their effort to protect the young maple. He noted that by focussing on saving one tree, the students were in fact protecting surrounding trees, too. 

“It’s like the broken window theory,” he said, referring to the notion that signs of disorder, like a single broken window, can lead to the deterioration of a whole neighbourhood. “If kids see that this tree is busted, they will think that trees must be for busting.” 

He also praised the students for their advocacy on behalf of other trees growing around the school. This includes a microforest that the Green Project members helped protect by getting the school board to agree to turn off outdoor floodlights that were shining on the trees all night, which can damage their growth over time. 

“So many people look around and want to do things to improve our world, but they feel like they won’t have an impact … you’ve shown that it’s possible,” he told the students. 

Ilse Turnsen, who helps lead the Green Project along with her friend, Noelle Walsh, agreed. 

“Thorough, focussed advocacy can get results,” she said. She added that the Green Project “is all about learning, seeking help from the community, so that we may know more and do better.”

The Green Project members told the Low Down they want to be an example of how defending the environment starts with treating the plants and animals in our own backyards with the utmost respect. 

When asked what they would say to anyone who questioned why they were putting so much effort into protecting one tree, Grade 5 student Rosemary Millar-Bunch quickly replied, “You would never ask ‘Why are you trying to save the life of just one person?’ would you?” 

Grade 6 student Alyssa Carle nodded emphatically in agreement, adding, “Just like us, trees deserve to live.”

‘Just like us, trees deserve to live’ Read More »

Arborist found not guilty

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Tommy Townsend has an ear-to-ear smile as he sits on the back of his work truck outside of the MRC des Collines courthouse in Chelsea. 

He’s smiling because a judge just threw out his case in which he was accused of wandering around the village of Wakefield with a knife two summers ago. 

“It feels good,” says Townsend, minutes after Justice Joanne Cousineau found him not guilty of a bylaw infraction April 10. “I’m glad someone had some common sense. I don’t feel the police had any common sense on that day, personally, and I don’t think the prosecutor had too much either, but the judge did…I was not wandering around. I was in my vehicle, as she stated. It’s good to get some closure.”

Townsend was arrested at gunpoint in front of his two children by MRC des Collines officers on Aug. 18, 2023, after a witness called police and reported that a man wielding a knife was wandering around the village. 

During the trial, the Wakefield single dad told the judge that he had just returned from a quick job as an arborist and had his two daughters in the car, as they were going to buy shoes at Giant Tiger. He was suddenly pulled over by police, who drew their guns and ordered Townsend onto the ground in front of Kaffe 1870. 

He was later released and was not charged criminally. Weeks later, police fined him for a bylaw infraction for carrying a knife without a reasonable excuse. 

That was the crux of the trial, as Cousineau needed to determine whether or not Townsend had a reasonable excuse to carry a knife. In her decision, she said that the police, and Crown prosecutor Olivier Gosselin failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Townsend was “wandering around.”

In August 2023 Townsend told the Low Down that he was in Wakefield searching for a missing Low man, Simeon Wapachee, and was dressed in a safety vest as he showed passersby Wapachee’s photo. He had several knives sheathed to his belt. This was not mentioned in court. 

“When I have two contradictory versions, I don’t need to see who spoke the truth. I wasn’t there,” said Cousineau. “[The Crown] has a burden of proving every element of the infraction beyond reasonable doubt.”

She continued: “Nobody in that file came and testified saying that they saw you wandering around with a knife. You were in your vehicle. That’s not public property,” she said to Townsend during her decision. “It’s maybe not the best move to be driving around with a knife on you when you’re with your daughters, but who am I to judge on that? You were arrested, and the police say they saw you in your vehicle. Now, do I believe your version? Not so much, but the long and the short of it is, the police did not see you wandering around, and that is the infraction in this bylaw.”

Townsend submitted photos of his work truck to prove he was an arborist. 

“If you’re an arborist, you have an excuse,” she said. “The part of you having [a knife] on you is a little disturbing. The long and short of it is that you were in your vehicle; you were not wandering around on the street. If the people saw you, they should have come and testified, which they did not.”

Townsend said he is happy to get “closure,” but he hesitated when asked if he felt justice was served. 

“I feel this whole thing was unjustified to begin with,” he said, adding that the traumatic event still affects his daughters. At the time of the arrest, his daughters were six and 11.

He said his youngest has nightmares about gun violence, and his oldest is now afraid of police officers.

“The most tragic part of this unnecessary event is that two small children have no faith or trust in police officers anymore.”

Arborist found not guilty Read More »

Scroll to Top