Senseless vandalism ravages trees
By Mona Mattei
Hours of hard work and care have been ruined in a senseless act of vandalism. Sometime between Tuesday evening and Thursday morning vandals destroyed about 20 trees that were planted in the last month at Angus MacDonald ball park in Grand Forks. The damage was discovered on Thursday morning by city works crews.
Grand Forks city Mayor Brian Taylor said the damage was devastating to the crew and the city. “Vandals cut down all the new trees we put in. They’ve also done damage to other trees that were not (newly) planted. It’s a costly process,” said Taylor. “They figure it is around the $10,000 cost to this. We’re hoping there will be an investigation and we can find the culprits.”
The city has reported the vandalism to the RCMP as well as connecting with the local high school in case information may come forward from there. On Tuesday morning, workers had noticed that holes they had dug on Monday in preparation for planting were filled back in. The apparent joke took the crews over an hour to rectify. Taylor said that the two incidents are probably related.
“I have no patience for senseless violence and destruction like this,” said Taylor. “It’s beyond my understanding.”
The trees were planted as a part of a project to replace trees damaged by pine beetle and wind storms over the past couple of years. Funding for the project was provided by the province’s Trees For Tomorrow program as well as the Job Opportunities program under the federal government that provided the wages for the crew that is made up of unemployed forestry workers.
Anyone with information that can assist in this investigation is encouraged to contact the RCMP at: 250-442-8288 or city hall at: 250-442-8266
