The City of Dryden is hoping to turn a negative into a positive as it continues to remove two large balsam poplar trees from Cooper Park.
Public Works Operations Manager Colin Hawkins says the trees were dying off in the crown creating some very dangerous dead wood above the pedestrian trail.
Hawkins stresses the Public Works department never endeavours to go out and cut trees down for no reason.
“Even though we have love for these big giant trees in Cooper Park, at some point in time we do have to do some maintenance just to maintain public safety on the trail and so we had to do some pretty severe cutting to these trees.”
Not all is lost as Hawkins says “We are are working with Community Services over at the Museum to cut a couple of “cookies” out of them. Hopefully the Museum can display them. And we’re trying to work with local craftsmen to see if we maybe can come up with something decorative or commemorative with some of the round wood. Maybe some park bench slabs or something just to commemorate these two beautiful trees in Cooper Park.”
Hawkins can’t say how long the massive trees have been there but they were planted when the park was first developed so they’ve been around for a long time.
(Photo Credit: Tim McKillop_
