Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Friday, July 6, 2007

Not long after city hall wagged its finger at Niven Lake homeowners for cutting down trees on public land, one Yellowknifer is wagging back.

Sandra Knight said city workers created a "graveyard" of trees behind her home on School Draw in recent months, while clearing out drainage into Great Slave Lake.

City councillor Shelagh Montgomery overlooks recent developments near School Draw, which have driven complaints from citizen. She said she plans to raise the issue at future council meetings. Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

"I don't see how they can impose laws on anyone until they can impose them on themselves," Knight said while showing the area to Yellowknifer.

In clearing out a drainage creek, the city cut a metres-wide swath of trees the length of the property, and damaged many others. The patch of land runs behind houses on 46th and 47th Streets, off School Draw.

"Nobody told us this would happen," Knight said.

A 'learning experience'

In May, Knight sent a letter and an album of pictures to city council, hoping it would be a "learning experience" for the relatively new governing body - which she believes was unaware of the development.

"I thought it was going to be a healthy teaching thing," she said. "This is the opposite of what (council) got in to do."

In response, she received a letter from public works director Greg Kehoe, explaining the project and assuring her precautions had been taken to "ensure minimal disruption."

"I haven't responded to (the letter) because it's a complete waste of time," Knight said.

While Kehoe called the machine used to clear the area a "backhoe" in his letter, Knight said it more resembled an industrial-strength weed whacker, shooting chunks of wood onto her lawn, more than 150 feet away, uphill.

"This isn't an issue," she said, pointing at a chunk of wood on her lawn the size of a water bottle. "But if (the wood) had hit one of my creatures, or me, there would be a big issue."

Taking a closer look

City councillor Shelagh Montgomery said she received Knight's letter, and after viewing the area with Yellowknifer, said she plans to bring the issue before council.

"It think (workers) were a bit aggressive in terms of the clearing that was done," she said. "We should at least advise people."

Doug Ritchie, executive director of Ecology North, received the package as well. He said he hoped the city would take more time in the future to save trees.

"Probably the work had to be done," he said. "This was probably just an education thing."

While speaking with Montgomery, Jan Fullerton, Knight's neighbor, called the development a "mess," though she said workers had told her plans are in place to clean up the area. She also praised new heated drainage in the area, which she said has curtailed flooding.