By Nancy Miller Chenier
In 2017, the National Capital Commission (NCC) initiated a project to identify 150 remarkable trees on federal lands in the National Capital Region. The goal was to find the trees in order to protect them and to educate the public about the region’s rich arboreal heritage. In response, residents living near the NCC’s King Edward Park organized an arborist visit to a magnificent oak tree that may predate Canada’s Confederation.
The Bur Oak stands at the edge of the bridge embankment that formerly carried the first train of the Bytown and Prescott Railway into the Sussex station in the 1850s. This location speaks of a link to Confederation and the trains bringing politicians and civil servants to the new capital. The nearby historic plaque installed by the NCC indicates that the tracks were removed between 1964 and 1966 to permit construction of the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and Vanier Parkway.
The “train tree” is community landmark growing on a historical site in one of Lowertown’s older parks. Its dark bark is deeply and irregularly furrowed and its canopy of gnarled branches spreads above a trunk of close to a metre. This resilient tree continues to adapt to an environment where pollution from vehicles on King Edward Avenue is a daily threat. The visiting arborist noted evidence of fire damage near its roots but indicated that the bark of a bur oak is fire-resistant. It is a survivor in a vulnerable setting.
This old residential area of Ottawa has seen the disappearance of many wonderful trees along King Edward Avenue and elsewhere but also witnessed the steady growth of this proud tree. It is a distinctive natural structure integral to the landscape of this urban park. Its beauty and its bounty daily benefit our children and our wildlife. For residents, it is a remarkable tree and we await a final response from the NCC.
Train Tree on far right circa 1950