The Doon Regional forest in south Kitchener is in the midst of being thinned. City of Kitchener contractors have been trimming trees and shrubs for the past week.
Tree trimmer Justin Oliveria says the forest is being overrun with undesirable species, "we have a lot of buckthorn and mustards growing up and so we want to open it up and let species in.
Regional Environmental Planner, Albert Hovingh agrees, "we want to have native hardwoods because of the density of the conifers. They are not getting established."
Neighbours who use the forest don't like what they see.
"It's a very quiet place, it's not only for runners, but there's lots of bikers and families and wildlife. We see deer in here on a regular basis and birds. It's just really sad to see what they've done to it", says runner Ashley Taisey.
Crews have cut swaths in the woodlot, pulling out trees in the 60-year-old plantation. The cutting will continue for the next week.
"My opinion is they are destroying the bush. It's a bush, trees die and fall and something grows back in time", says neighbour Grant Noecker.
Hovingh says the less-than-thick forest will get replanted in the near future.
"We'll do some planting as we go here and we'll try to put in oak and hackberry and some other species that we're not seeing here."
Still, neighbours like Karin McMillan wonder if the cutting should have been done at all.
"There could have been a lot more care and a lot more preservation, in my opinion. I'm not trying to tie myself to a tree here but I just want some answers. And I want to know when they are cutting down those trees… you can smell that they were growing viable trees. What's the purpose?"
