“This house won’t be the same without the eagles.”
David MacNab was still cut up on Friday, lamenting the loss of the esteemed, bald eagles nest that used to perch proudly atop the ailing, 90-foot cottonwood tree in his backyard in The Monds in West Richmond.
Looking up at where the nest sat for the last 20 years or so, MacNab — who admits to being an “emotional guy” — was fighting back tears as he told the Richmond News how much the eagles meant to him and how hard it was to hire an arborist, knowing in his heart of hearts what the tree’s prognosis was going to reveal.
Worried that his Rosamond Avenue neighbours and others in the community might question his motive for condemning the tree and, therefore, the eagles nest, MacNab wanted everyone to know how difficult it was to make that call.
“I was loathe to address this and, for a while, I thought to myself, ‘don’t ask the question (of the tree), and then I won’t need to hear the answer,’” said MacNab, adding that he bought the house in 2004 partly because of the nest and beat out a developer in a mini-bidding war.
“The tree hasn’t been healthy for a long time; the two trunks are cabled together. We could have taken the stress off the cabling by doing some major topping of the tree, but that would have meant the nest would be affected anyway, so there was no point.
“In the last two years, major branches have broken off the tree and smashed through my window and hit my neighbour’s roof.
“I’m a pretty emotional guy and I would probably be crying if I watched them take away the nest, so I had to leave the house when I knew they were coming to take it away; it was too much for me. I love my neighbourhood; I’m not tearing down or selling. But it’s a sad day for my family and the neighbourhood.”
MacNab said he wasn’t sure of the developer’s intentions back in 2004 but, pointing to all the re-development in his street, said, “you just need to have a look at the place around here to see what would likely have happened.”
“I’m hopeful that the eagles were able to establish a new nest somewhere close by.”
The removal of the long-established eagle’s nest two weeks ago from the now condemned tree – set to be cut down in January – was totally necessary, according to David Hancock, a renowned eagle biologist of 55 years and founder of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation.
Before finding out that an eagle expert had approved the nest’s removal, local residents were horrified when they realized the nest was gone and a tarp was erected above the nesting fork to prevent the mating eagles from returning.
A subsequent inspection by City of Richmond staff — after the homeowner had applied for a tree-removal permit — confirmed the tree had “significant structural defects” and was determined as “hazardous.”
MacNab praised City of Richmond staff who, he said, went out of their way to find solutions to save the tree.
With the tree condemned, MacNab had to apply to the provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations for a permit to have the nest removed, after the nesting season.
One of MacNab’s neighbours, Steve Guthrie, has written an open letter to the Ministry and Mayor Malcolm Brodie, urging them to rescind the tree-cutting permit and review the danger it poses.
