Dr. Todd Berinstein is under no illusion about east Vancouver.
His medical office along 164th Avenue is situated by one of the city’s most heavily traveled roadways, amid a sea of strip malls, food joints and parking lots. Berinstein, an ear, nose and throat specialist, recognizes the area is anything but wilderness.
Perhaps because so much of the natural environment has been lost, one remaining tree stands out.
This week marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a worldwide teach-in that helped to spur the passage of landmark laws protecting clean air, clean water and endangered species. In the context of global concerns over a changing climate and loss of natural habitat, the fate of a single fir tree may seem like a trifling matter.
Yet, it signifies something broader for Berinstein.
“You were kind enough to ask me, ‘Why is this tree important to you?’” Berinstein wrote in an e-mail. “I was taken off guard by the frank, simple nature of the question, and have thought about it a lot since our meeting.”
The towering Douglas fir stands between the medical office building Berinstein has owned since 2003 and the southeast corner of the intersection of 164th and Tech Center Drive. When the physician recently learned the city intends to add a right-turn lane off 164th later this year, he reacted with trepidation.
“We love our tree,” he said.
Then, when city officials painted a white line delineating the extent of the city right-of-way, he was aghast. The line cuts within 4 feet of the trunk.
“They’re telling me this is not going to hurt the tree,” he said.
Berinstein isn’t so sure about that.
The city landed a $1.2 million federal grant to install turn lanes along 34 blocks, in an effort to relieve congestion along the second-busiest arterial in Vancouver. Matt Ransom, the city’s transportation planning manager, said contractors will take special steps to protect the root area of the tree at the corner of Tech Center Drive.
Charles Ray, the city’s urban forester, visited the site and consulted to make sure the contractor avoids running heavy machinery on top of the root system. He said it’s “refreshing” to see a landowner so concerned about the fate of a tree, especially in a city striving to improve its anemic tree canopy.
“The tree should be fine,” said Jeff Schmidt, the city engineer in charge for the project. “It’s been there for a long time, and there’s no indication that it’s not healthy.”
Berinstein hopes so.
Why take so much effort to conserve one tree? Berinstein summed it up in his note to The Columbian, which follows below:
“The tree is important to us, the building owners, the patients and neighbors who visit the site, and the community at large because it represents the first plantings of the east county. It is a historical marker and a geographic landmark. It can be seen from blocks away.
“Additionally, this tree is important to us because this tree has been witness to a lot of change in the east county, and not all of it good. There has been a plowing under of our trees on Prune Hill to make way for houses, and the winds now are quite severe due to the lack of trees. Many fields and grassy grazing meadows have been paved to allow for our motor vehicles and the increase in commuter traffic has led to increased pollution from fossil fuel and litter. The rain runoff is significant, and often after rains the little bits of earth exposed are soaked or puddle-filled.
“Lastly, this tree is important to us because it is a sign of what is established and good about our community. We don’t throw out older things because they are in the way of progress. Respect for the environment, for living things, and for things that are older and bigger than we are is what my wife and I have endeavored to teach our children, and this is not any different.”
