- L.Jillian

There are places in town where the trees have been left untouched for many generations. It's rare, but if you poke around, you'll find them hiding just a stone's throw from civilization.

Unfortunately more and more often, city officials or corporations with a plan to "develop and improve" our region are all too eager to cut them down in the pursuit of profit.

This giant spruce tree, at Stoney Orchard Park, is a symbol of what our community can do if we band together - it was spared the chainsaw only recently, when months of meetings, petitions, and publicity pushed back at Barry's Construction, the mega-million dollar company that got a little too greedy and thought they could spread their houses into the woods.

The attention was enough to make our city officials think twice about selling public parkland off.

Today this spruce, along with a number of other ancient spruce trees, line an old stone wall around the edge of the woods.Sweeping views of the bay from the top of the escarpment are seen on one side. Trails wind through a mixed cedar-maple forest, where rabbits, deer, owls, squirrels, and countless other species of animals call home.

It is a little oasis accessible to everyone, yet these kinds of places are rare and slowly dwindling as corporatism (and colonialism!) claim more of this earth for themselves.