From woodchips to pulp: what's happening to Montreal trees felled by ice storm

City workers with chainsaws, people using felled tree trunks as benches, piles of branches as tall as adults and enormous exposed tree roots — these are some sights at Montreal's Lafontaine Park after last week's ice storm. 

Though most parks have reopened, city workers still have weeks' worth of work on their hands to completely clean up all the debris left behind by the high winds and freezing rain that left over a million Quebecers without power and caused at least two deaths. 

City officials are urging caution in parks and warning people not to venture onto woodland paths in parks like Mont-Royal. 

Residential streets are also full of branches, and many Montrealers are asking themselves how they can get rid of the branches in their yard — and what the city will do with all that wood. 

The city is asking its residents to help with the cleanup process by either leaving smaller branches with other green waste — which is picked up from the curb once a week — or by bringing branches larger than five centimetres to one of seven ecocentres. 

The ecocentres are usually open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. but as of Saturday will open at 8 a.m. 

"If it's smaller than an OK [sign with your hand], it goes with the green waste. Look at the Info-collectes website. If it's bigger, bring it to the ecocentre — it's free," said Philippe Sabourin, a spokesperson for the city. 

Montrealers just need to bring a valid driver's licence and debris not exceeding 12 cubic metres to the ecocentres to have it taken off their hands, said Sabourin. 

He urges people to look online for the centre closest to them and to book an appointment on the city's website to avoid a wait.

The branches picked up at the curb are transported to the Saint-Michel Environmental Complex (CESM)  where they will eventually be recycled into wood chips, pulp or compressed wood products.

"Of course the city cannot handle as much wood as we have, even if we turn it into wood chips we need to make agreements with private firms to help us recycle wood chips," said Sabourin. 

How will this affect our urban forest?

Though it cannot confirm how many trees were damaged in the storm, the city says its 311 line has received 923 calls reporting fallen trees and more than 4,500 reports of fallen branches since April 5. 

Carly Ziter, a biology professor at Concordia University who specializes in urban ecology, says trees still need to be surveyed to analyze just how much damage was done to the urban forest.

"In some areas of the city, the damage is quite substantial," she said.

"We will feel that in the future. Our trees provide us with so many benefits — whether that's their esthetics, their effect on our mental and physical health, or the reduction of heat waves. If we lose a large portion of our urban canopy, we lose a portion of those benefits as well." 

Though trees are very resilient, many will be too damaged and will need to be cut down. Others will need to be treated to properly recover. And with the loss of large trees, it will take decades before their replacements reach the same size. 

"This really shows us the power of nature," said Ziter. "It's a reminder that even in the city we are not isolated from nature and its consequences and it can do a great deal of damage to our canopy as a whole." 

Ziter recommends that homeowners who are worried about their trees consult arborists and do regular pruning and maintenance to keep them healthy and resilient to extreme weather.

Another component of maintaining a healthy urban canopy is tree diversity, she said. Different trees will weather disturbances differently — trees that might be more susceptible or more resilient to an ice storm might not be as resilient to an insect outbreak or a drought, for example.

"When we know our urban forest will be facing multiple stressors, one of the best ways we can prepare ourselves is making sure our urban forest is diverse," said Ziter.