Dear Editor, I would like to commend Centre Wellington Council for voting down the current Cemetery Master Plan that removes mature trees. Council’s decision to hit the pause button on the New Proposed Master Cemetery Plan is a wise one.
Developing the current green space and removing of (13 of 27) mature conifers that the Town of Fergus paid to spade-in a number of years ago, makes no sense given the significant value of these trees because, with the removal, created no more additional burial plots. I am proud to live in a community where its current leadership values the input and investments made by past residents and maintaining these trees is a testament to the respect that Council has for its residents and past decision makers. Demonstrating that here, in Centre Wellington, we are handling the challenges of development with a long-term perspective. Proving that our Council understands the importance of the trees in our community and that their ecological services cannot easily be replaced by replanting. They see the negative effect that the loss of mature trees will have on current and future residents.
Arbor Day 1907, Theodore Roosevelt stated “within your lifetime the nation’s need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted.”
When planning community spaces, including cemeteries, we must consider the quality of lives of current and future residents while taking in the lessons and appreciating the investment of past citizens. I am grateful that, in Centre Wellington, our leadership is protecting our forest cover. Our Community’s mature trees are one of many important players that make this community a wonderful place to live. They are an investment made by past residents for us to benefit from today and their removal should never be taken lightly. Thank you councilors, it is good to know you are looking out for past, current and future generations of Centre Wellington residents. Honorable actions like these will stand the test of time.
Sincerely, Alison Morrison
Centre Wellington
Alison Morrison
