The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) has joined Ewing Street residents in calling for a series of trees to be saved.

The Corporation of Hamilton announced last month that it would be moving a series of mature French Oaks from the median as part of a plan to widen the roadway to meet international standards.

However, the residents of the North Hamilton neighbourhood expressed concerns about the removal of the iconic trees, questioning if they would survive being transplanted if they were to be returned at all.

In a statement yesterday, BEST threw its weight behind the residents, saying that while the Corporation has promised to return the trees to the street once road widening is completed, there was a real concern that would not happen.

“Removing these 50 year-old trees to another site, then moving them back may indeed be possible,” a BEST spokesman said. “However, the trauma of twice transplanting mature trees places them at high risk.

“Then too, neighbours are concerned that once the trees are gone, some reason will be proffered and the street will be left treeless. There is good reason for this thinking. Elliott Street once sported a tree-lined median strip. The trees and median were removed and never replaced.

“We would all feel more trusting if tree saplings had already been planted somewhere on Ewing Street.

“The absence of replacement trees anywhere along the entire length of Ewing Street does not instil confidence in their promises.”

The spokesman said that some neighbours fear the street will be turned into a thoroughfare for traffic, bringing a greater number of tractor trailers and other larger vehicles through the area.

“BEST supports the retention of mature trees on Ewing Street and the boost they provide for environmental and property values,” he said. “Trees at roadsides or medians help form a ‘green corridor’ that would ideally link parks and other vegetated open spaces into a chain of greenery that would enhance Bermuda’s image.

“We have been advised that the desire for a wider pedestrian way and access by emergency vehicles on Ewing Street could be accommodated via a one-way traffic scheme that would retain the median, parking, the existing mature trees and increased shade for pedestrians. This would seem to be a win-win proposition.

“We would encourage the Corporation of Hamilton to adopt this concept or seek other creative ways that would avoid the cutting down of mature trees.”