Squirrel for Mayor was at the Victoria International Airport on June 24, 2025 for the Remote Sensing: Garry Oak Species Detection Project with the Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society and Terra Remote Sensing to launch a Bell 206B3 Jet Ranger, equipped with a Phase One IXM-100 camera for aerial data acquisition to perform Garry oak species detection in developing a new approach to mapping Garry oak species presence using LiDAR and geoAI. By conducting species-specific detection analysis to form a species composition baseline, the project can enable future analysis opportunities that are Garry oak-specific. LiDAR was flown over the City of Victoria and the District of Saanich’s urban containment boundary. The goal of the project is to provide data to interested parties (e.g., environmental non-profits, researchers, community scientists, municipal staff, etc.), providing them with a new high bar in remote sensing data quality to innovate on the analysis front.
Photo by Ryan Senechal. On location at the Victoria International Airport for the Remote Sensing: Garry Oak Species Detection Project . Bell 206B3 Jet Ranger, equipped with a Phase One IXM-100 camera in the background.
The inaugural event attended by Squirrel for Mayor was at “A Rally to Save the Centennial Sequoia,” planned by “Friends of Centennial Square,” a group of residents from the City of Victoria. The rally was aimed at protesting the City Council’s decision to remove a mature sequoia tree to facilitate a redesign of the square. Over time, the Sequoia tree has come to symbolize more than merely the act of cutting down a single tree; it now serves as a reflection of insufficient transparency and, arguably, indicators of moral hazard, within municipal governance.
July 2024 Victoria City Council approved (6 to 3) (1) a design (2) for Centennial Square which included the destruction of the square’s Sequoia tree.
June 12, 2025 a rally held to save the tree was attended by over 300 people, according to the Times Colonist.
July 3, 2025 the Mayor and Council voted will reallocate more than $10 million — including $2.5 million from a controversial plan to revitalize Centennial Square — to tackle rising street disorder downtown. The Centennial Square project will still go ahead as scheduled, starting this fall, but the eastern part of the proposed project, including removal of the sequoia, is on pause indefinitely.
After letters, rallies, FOI requests and data reviews, and community engagement, the City will move forward to review the risk posed by the Sequioa in an “evidence-based” way. This is a great example of the role of public participation in successful urban forest governance. Show us the receipts!
“Last month, Victoria city council made the difficult decision to redeploy, for community safety priorities, some of the funds allocated toward two projects that have received grants from the province: facility upgrades at Royal Athletic Park (RAP) and infrastructure upgrades at Centennial Square.”
The article continues. “In terms of the sequoia, here is the bind in which council finds itself:
On one hand, the professional advice given to council by parks and engineering staff remains valid — that the root system of the tree poses medium-term risks to public safety, and that it is a matter of “when, not if” the tree will need to be removed. On the other hand, there has been an outpouring of love and support for the tree, and many people have questioned the rationale for removing it.
With this decision, the issue has been delayed indefinitely. When council eventually returns to the issue, we would propose that the city undertake an independent engineering and arborist analysis to confirm the risk level posed by the tree, and to chart a viable path ahead.It is imperative that we move forward in an evidence-based way.”
Arborist and urban forest educator Ryan Senechal offers an analysis of the Technical Memorandum recently shared by the City of Victoria regarding its stated need to cut down Centennial Square’s giant sequoia tree. He says the tree is healthy, and could be pruned to achieve more openness, while keeping its cooling shade and other important eco-services. by Ryan Senechal, MUFL, arborist and urban forest educator
1. The city of Victoria made specific and repeated note of an underground BC Hydro powerline which is encased in concrete and runs under the Sequoia’s root system. Councillor Caradonna and senior Parks staff have repeatedly expressed safety concerns about BC Hydro’s infrastructure, yet no specific information outlines a potential conflict investigated by Dialog or Talmack. No conflict with BC Hydro infrastructure was identified in either Dialog’s report or Talmack’s report.
2. The city has yet to acknowledge the important services the sequoia provides to the community, or show up for its own asset which (unlike the 60-year-old services underground), is not at the end of its service life. The Sequoia tree has many years of service left to provide to the city, and is itself important city infrastructure. Dialog identifies aging infrastructure as a concern for continued root system conflict. However, underground services can be modernized, lined, relocated, or installed, using arboricultural management techniques — these are practices being conducted every day in our region, in order to retain trees through construction.
3. The incomplete removal of Cormorant Street road surface has been mentioned as a problem, with comments that it “restricts soil aeration and drainage impacting root growth and tree vitality”. This appears to be pure speculation. No evidence was provided to illustrate this relationship. The tree is healthy. Those same buried road surface conditions were present when the tree was installed, and there is no indication that those subsurface conditions have changed dramatically, or potentially created an issue for the tree’s root system.
4. There is more than enough information here to suggest adequate work has not been conducted to investigate the tree’s potential to be retained in the redesign. Statements have been made by Dialog, city of Victoria senior Parks staff, and city councillors that lack evidence of thorough investigation onsite, relying on speculative comments produced – not from breaking ground and verifying – but from looking at maps, and other surface-level professional opinions.
5. Dialog commented on the ecosystem services to be provided by the planned 17 deciduous replacement trees, but no perspective was provided on those currently delivered by the Sequoia. A deciduous tree that is small at maturity has low potential to deliver equivalent benefits to the Sequoia, even when groups of them are planted. The benefits Dialog mentions are many years away. Dialog also commented on stormwater management delivery through the soil cells provided for the new trees, yet they have not conducted analysis of the current stormwater benefits offered by the existing lawn and Sequoia tree.
Along with their leaves, deciduous trees lose most of their potential to disrupt rainwater just as rainfall arrives each fall. We are reliant entirely on the soil volume’s ability to capture and slow rainwater from reaching storm drains. The Sequoia, on the other hand, provides year-round leaf area that slows rainwater before it is absorbed into a massive soil area.
Below is a summary of the Sequoia’s current ecoservices, calculated using iTree app:
• Leaf area: 2500 square metres
• Carbon storage: 7.5 tonnes
• Carbon sequestration (annually): 8.128 kg
• Avoided water runoff (annually): 4.162 cubic metres
• Water intercepted (annually): 21.43 cubic metres
• Input measurements: 168.7 cm diameter at 1.4m height, 22 m total height, 2 m crown base height, 15.2 m crown width (N/S), 14.5 crown width (E/W), 5 side crown light exposure, 1 to 5% crown missing, 1 to 5% crown dieback
6. Dialog appears to have a different view on the Sequoia’s health condition than the professional arborist who authored the construction impact assessment (Talmack Urban Forestry). The author of that report lists their name and certifications, which indicate their specialization as a professional arborist, consistent with the city of Victoria’s policies and expectations for comment on tree condition and tree risk assessment.
Such qualifications, for example, include ‘International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist’, and ‘Tree Risk Assessment Qualified’. The attending arborist who visited the site in March of 2024 determined the Sequoia to be in good health and good structural condition. They recommended the tree be removed because of the design constraints that were provided to them (presumably by Dialog) in the form of plans for the square, and there are no indications that infrastructure conflicts or tree health or tree stability were the rationale for the removal recommendation.
City of Victoria previously shared condition information on its open data portal, as gathered by city of Victoria Parks arborists and contractors. The condition ratings that were last publicly available (before the City quietly removed condition information from the public tree species data layer in 2021) were that the Sequoia was in good health and good structural condition as of June 17th, 2019.
7. Dialog notes the tree is shade-intolerant and therefore intolerant of urban growing conditions. This is counterfactual to the evidence we see with our own eyes, and contrary to what the academic literature says. Sequoias exist in abundance in Victoria in a wide range of growing conditions, including soil conditions and light availability. Think about the Sequoia at Honda City. Think about the Sequoia(s) at the Victoria Art Gallery. There are two Sequoias growing in the shade of a high-rise building, surrounded by other trees at the intersection of Fisgard and Quadra. The report author has had little exposure to the urban forest in Victoria if their opinions on Sequoia species’ viability in downtown Victoria is any indication.
8. Centennial Square’s Sequoia has about the best sun exposure you could hope for in the downtown realm, and that light availability is not going to change, based on the designs the city has shared.
9. The report author notes “most horticulturalists and arborists recommend that giant Sequoia should only be planted in areas with abundant space”. It’s not ethical for me to speak on behalf of “most horticulturalists and arborists” without their consent, but my professional opinion is that this Sequoia’s existing soil area and above ground growing space is abundant and appropriate for the species. We’re not talking about whether or not it is appropriate to plant a tree, we’re talking about a tree that already exists.
10. The report author references an established critical root zone radius of 19.8m, and suggests that it has already outgrown its root space. The report author would be wise to refer to Industry Best Management Practices produced by the International Society of Arboriculture guiding tree management through construction, which provides important context overtop what we imagine as a radius of root system around the tree. Critical root zones are areas defined where any work ingress requires arboricultural management techniques.
This is the area often visually identified by orange fencing wrapped around trees’ root systems during construction. That area is not necessarily off limits. Instead, it requires knowledgeable and qualified professionals to guide or make recommendations that will minimize stress to the tree. When critical root zones need to be accessed on private property, including for modifying parts of the tree’s root system to allow for utility repairs or new installations, these conditions are authorized by arborist staff at the city of Victoria.
The author of the Technical report has ignored the consulting arborists’ role in providing technical solutions where a desired critical root zone cannot be achieved. This is substandard practice in the design and building of urban realm renewal.
11. The Memorandum lists no author and no staff qualifications specific to arboricultural expertise.
12. The Design firm lists no professional arborists or urban foresters on their staff profile page.
13. The references provided to support Dialog’s opinions on Sequoia amount to two horticultural hobbyist blogs, and information provided by the city. Horticulture blogs aimed at a consumer audience are not traditional forms of professional evidence, and are not contextual to urban arboriculture.
In addition, the City of Victoria made specific and repeated note of an underground BC Hydro powerline which is encased in concrete and runs under the Sequoia’s root system. According to an article by Mary Fowles and Jennifer Button at CRD Watch, “Councillor Caradonna and senior Parks staff have repeatedly expressed safety concerns about BC Hydro’s infrastructure, yet no specific information outlines a potential conflict investigated by Dialog or Talmack. No conflict with BC Hydro infrastructure was identified in either Dialog’s report or Talmack’s report.”
As BC Hydro’s Freedom of Information department put it: “Please be advised that we checked with the departments who would have known about the tree and electrical vault, and none of them indicated knowing about any correspondence with the City of Victoria (to or from).”
Response to FOI Request from HydroCllr. Caradonna’s email: Caradonna Email.png
THAT Council approve the updated concept design for Centennial Square and direct staff to proceed with implementation as outlined in this report, as amended by the following: 1. Increase the child-orientated play features in the final designs. Committee of the While Minutes July 04, 2024 7 2. In future consider commercial mixed-use to return to the north side of the Square. 3. After removal of the unsafe trees, and without slowing down the project, staff to repurpose the timber within the Victoria community as they see fit.
Sequoia tree at Centennial Square, City of Victoria, BC. August 2024.
At the January 23rd Council of the Whole Meeting, Councillor Matt Dell shared his experiences of tree removal and replacement regarding the need to advance a city, thus emphasizing the need for context in urban planning. “I grew up in a farming family in the South Okanagan, where trees are cut down and replanted every 20 years. For some, removing trees is seen as a crime against humanity, while for others, it’s a necessary step toward advancing the city.” Unlike the routine cutting and replanting of fruit trees, the biodiverse ecosystems which include native and non-native trees requires a deeper understanding of its diverse inhabitants, many of which are already threatened by habitat loss and environmental changes.
Sequioa tree at Centennial Square.
An announcement was published at the Victoria News on May 12th, about provincial funding of $713,510 to boost climate preparedness at Centennial Square in Victoria, BC.
The news release boasts how the upgrades will, in part, improve stormwater management. With new trees and added greenery, the square is striving to become more climate-resilient, mitigate heat island effects, and better manage stormwater runoff.
This is a significant amount of money. The cost to plant a tree in hardscape areas, such as the suggested tree planting in Centennial Square, rises to $10,000 per tree or more when existing plantable space is not available. Therefore, it’s important to note that there are existing ecosystem services at this location, and the technical Memorandum by Dialog for this project lists no author and no staff qualifications specific to arboriculture expertise.
As urban forester Ryan Senechal notes (Creatively United), “Dialog commented on the ecosystem services to be provided by the planned 17 deciduous replacement trees, but no perspective was provided on those currently delivered by the Sequoia. A deciduous tree that is small at maturity has low potential to deliver equivalent benefits to the Sequoia, even when groups of them are planted. The benefits Dialog mentions are many years away. Dialog also commented on stormwater management delivery through the soil cells provided for the new trees, yet they have not conducted analysis of the current stormwater benefits offered by the existing lawn and Sequoia tree.”
Senechal continies, “Along with their leaves, deciduous trees lose most of their potential to disrupt rainwater just as rainfall arrives each fall. We are reliant entirely on the soil volume’s ability to capture and slow rainwater from reaching storm drains. The Sequoia, on the other hand, provides year-round leaf area that slows rainwater before it is absorbed into a massive soil area.
Below is a summary of the Sequoia’s current ecoservices, calculated using iTree app:
• Leaf area: 2500 square metres • Carbon storage: 7.5 tonnes • Carbon sequestration (annually): 8.128 kg • Avoided water runoff (annually): 4.162 cubic metres • Water intercepted (annually): 21.43 cubic metres • Potential Evapotranspiration (annually): 59.05 cubic metres • Oxygen production (annually): 21.67 kg • Input measurements: 168.7 cm diameter at 1.4m height, 22 m total height, 2 m crown base height, 15.2 m crown width (N/S), 14.5 crown width (E/W), 5 side crown light exposure, 1 to 5% crown missing, 1 to 5% crown dieback”
In addition, the City of Victoria made specific and repeated note of an underground BC Hydro powerline which is encased in concrete and runs under the Sequoia’s root system. According to an article by Mary Fowles and Jennifer Button at CRD Watch, “Councillor Caradonna and senior Parks staff have repeatedly expressed safety concerns about BC Hydro’s infrastructure, yet no specific information outlines a potential conflict investigated by Dialog or Talmack. No conflict with BC Hydro infrastructure was identified in either Dialog’s report or Talmack’s report.”
As BC Hydro’s Freedom of Information department put it: “Please be advised that we checked with the departments who would have known about the tree and electrical vault, and none of them indicated knowing about any correspondence with the City of Victoria (to or from).”
THAT Council approve the updated concept design for Centennial Square and direct staff to proceed with implementation as outlined in this report, as amended by the following: 1. Increase the child-orientated play features in the final designs. Committee of the While Minutes July 04, 2024 7 2. In future consider commercial mixed-use to return to the north side of the Square. 3. After removal of the unsafe trees, and without slowing down the project, staff to repurpose the timber within the Victoria community as they see fit.
