It has come to the attention of the group "Kincardinites Concerned For Our Trees", that our town has nothing officially written into it's by-laws that protect the sanctity of our live trees and the ecosystems they sustain. Even land owned by the township is not officially safe.

In other towns, by-laws are in place to allow only those living trees deemed necessary to be removed, leaving many mature trees standing around the buildings. Others may state that any trees cut must be offset by the planting of THIS SAME species elsewhere in the community. Some expect the planting of twice the number of native trees cut!  Native species thrive in an area specifically because of the unique environment they lived in, therefore are the best to thrive as replanted trees.

At present there are by-laws written for Bruce County, but this document leaves municipalities free range to over ride them as they see fit.

We have right now, many woods and treed lots which, at the worst, could be CLEAR CUT to put in real estate as we grow our population. Some, have already been cleared, leaving animals that lived there to flee wherever they can and mature native trees gone forever. It will take generations for small tree replants to replace what has been lost.

Please sign this petition to encourage the Council of the Municipality of Kincardine to do the right thing. Let's clearly protect our environment, especially our living trees, from damage due to an expanding population and the perhaps careless objective of land owners and developers with clear written by-laws.