Yesterday morning, I was finally able to get back to our outdoor trails.

The weather was perfect for power walking and I was in my glory in the fresh, and just slightly crisp early morning air. I wanted to just keep moving without photo stops.

Our city campground was at the end of my route, and as I was walking the paths there, the subject of my feature photo stopped me dead in my tracks.

This wasn’t the work of a woodpecker or a beaver. I had a sick feeling in my gut, knowing that this was likely done by someone camping in the park this past weekend.

This past weekend was “May Long”, as we Canadians refer to our Victoria Day long weekend, and is the weekend most of our parks open for camping.

Did someone need kindling wood that badly? To me, this was vandalization of nature with no understanding or thought of the possible consequences for that tree and others nearby. This has left a door open to pests, disease and tree death.

When I showed hubs the photo and asked what he thought had happened, his reply was “complete stupidity is what happened there”.

My niece’s husband is head of the city parks department. I plan to send the photo to him today, along with the exact location, to see if there’s any remediation that can be done to save the tree.

“Let’s stop fighting over who we believe created the planet, & work together against those that choose to destroy it.”

Jack Barker