READ: Here’s the shady secret behind one of Toronto’s most ubiquitous trees (Toronto Star)
Written by Kate Allen, a science and technology reporter:
We brought the invaders here. They’re thriving. They’re serving Toronto well. But do the Norway maples have to go?
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Acer platanoides, the Norway maple, is an invasive species. The Ontario Invasive Plant Council calls these trees “a serious threat to woodlands across Ontario” because of their aggressive spread into forests and ability to suppress native species.
The city no longer plants Norway maples as a street tree and actively removes them when rehabilitating ravines and natural areas like High Park, meaning its long-term goal is to bring their numbers as close as possible to zero.
The short-term goal is more complicated. About 13.5 per cent of Toronto’s street trees are Norway maples, making it the most common species by far.
If all of them were chopped down tomorrow, more than one in eight street trees, and their exceptional climate change-fighting properties, would disappear.