The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) has expressed concern about a notice threatening the removal of a tree behind the old Magistrates’ Court building.

According to a notice published on page 33 of the August 21 edition of The Royal Gazette, the Ministry of Public Works stated that it intended to “remove” a tree on Reid Street, and as a result workers would close off Reid Street between 7am and 6pm on Sunday.

Ian Hind, City Engineer with the Corporation of Hamilton, said the City had been advised to close the road to traffic because Works and Engineering were taking the mature kapok tree down, but a spokesman for the Department of Parks said that only one branch must be pruned.

“We are doing so on behalf of the Public Works building section,” the spokesman said. “We are not removing the entire tree.”

BEST chairman Stuart Hayward said yesterday afternoon that despite assurances from Government that the tree would merely be “pruned” he remained concerned about the trend of removing mature trees with little public notification.

“We remember the Poinciana tree at the end of Serpentine Road that was cut down without notice,” he said. “And it seems this kind of precipitous action was at least being contemplated here.

“Except for the obligatory tiny ad in the newspaper to close the street, we have been given virtually no notice of their intention. We deserve better. One by one the trees that keep Bermuda from being totally urban are being picked off. This has to stop. These actions, purportedly being made on our behalf but excluding us from the process, cannot continue.”

Mr Hayward said that supporters of BEST have expressed disappointment that so many trees in the City have been slated for “severe pruning or complete removal”, emphasising the value that trees have.

The organisation recently joined with upset Ewing Street residents after the City of Hamilton announced plans to remove several French oaks from a median in the North Hamilton neighbourhood.

The Corporation subsequently announced that it had scrapped the plan as a result of the residents concerns.

Mr Hayward claimed that over a period of 50 years, a tree provides around $1.6 million of services, including producing oxygen, preventing soil erosion and controlling air pollution.

“We have advised them that the tree is only going to be pruned but it is clear that the concern is growing for Bermuda’s diminishing stock of significant trees,” Mr Hayward said. “Virtually every car-driving Bermudian goes looking for a tree to park under for the shade. But beyond that, we seem to have little understanding of the real value of trees.”

He appealed for the Government to cease any plans to remove the tree, and any other mature trees in the city, without first carrying out reasonable consultation and giving the public adequate notice to consider and respond.

Mr Hayward also called on Government to change it’s thinking regarding trees by developing policies and practices that recognise the value of trees to the Island’s landscape, tourism product, economy and overall well-being.

“Let’s start treating trees according to their true value,” he said. “They are worth far more to us standing tall than as lumber or lying dead on the ground.” Kapok trees, also known as Java cotton, are native to Central and South America, the Caribbean, Mexico and West Africa.

Adult trees produce seed pods surrounded by a fluffy fibre, which has been used in mattresses, pillows and stuffed toys as a substitute for down. The trees are cultivated in the rainforests of South Asia and the Pacific islands.