The fate of a 160-year-old Black Barn Maple tree in Long Branch is being decided by an appeal board whose members are expected to make a ruling this month.

“The hearing to save this tree … is winding up with a decision expected in mid to late May,” according to a release from the Save the Black Barn Maple Committee.

The decision will be made by a Toronto Local Appeal Board (TLAB).

The committee said the City’s General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation has the power to refuse to issue a permit for the injury or destruction of trees.

“This does not only restrict protection to only official Heritage Trees but whether or not a tree is a heritage or should be protected as a potential heritage tree, according to the committee.

“Trees are healthy. Significant vistas will not be adequately protected and preserved,” the group wrote, adding they have provided the city with documentation from a professional arborist and Forest Ontario Heritage tree program advisor.

Councillor Mark Grimes in a letter last month said ‘rumours’ that City Council can act to save the tree are both ‘false and misleading, there is no vote on this matter.’

“There is no settlement,” Grimes wrote. “The city is taking no position on the file since the city has no legal case to call. Urban forestry is no longer opposed.”

Grimes said the filing of a document to TLAB that the tree has been designated Heritage is not accurate and that has been confirmed by Forestry Ontario.

A community drive to save the iconic tree has caught on with residents, with many taking to social media to express their views.

“This tree is far too important to be cut down,” warns Diana. “It is part of our heritage and it puts smiles on people’s faces and a playground and sanctuary to our dwindling wildlife.”

“This is indeed a magnificent and rare tree,” writes Rasa. “It would be a crime to remove it.”

“I am backing my neighbours and residents in protesting the allowance of a heritage tree to be destroyed,” warns Chris Caldwell.

An application has been made by a builder to remove the tree to build a home on the lot.

The Black Barn Maple at the rear of 95 James Street has witnessed the many trials and tribulations that only a local old growth tree could. When it was a natural sapling in the 1860’s, James and Martha Eastwood purchased 500 acres of the Samuel Smith Tract, running south of Lake Shore King’s Highway from Etobicoke Creek to about Thirty First Street.