Flyers are being circulated to Long Branch area residents to help save a 160-year-old tree, dubbed ‘The Black Barn Maple of Eastwood,’ which a developer wants to destroy to build a home.

A group called the Black Barn Maple Committee has been formed to lobby the community to help protect “Long Branch’s oldest and largest tree.”

The group, in its flyer, said “the city originally objected to the tree’s removal then withdrew their objection to have the 160-year-old tree destroyed.”

The fate of the tree is before a Toronto Local Appeal Board (TLAB), which resume hearings on April 16.

Concerned residents are urged to email Councillor Mark Grimes with their objections.

Residents said the property was purchased a number of years ago and the developer has since obtained a lawyer and applied to the City of Toronto to try and remove the tree to build a larger home.

The City in a document stated it had reached a settlement with the applicant/owner, which residents say is a numbered company.

“Destroying one of the landmark trees in Long Branch asks the question what is Toronto’s real tree policy,” the committee said in its poster. “Long Branch tree canopy has decreased from 27% to 15% since 2009.”

The flyer noted the tree was a sapling in the 1860s when James and Martha Eastwood purchased 500-acres of the Samuel Smith Tract. ‘This land became known as Eastwood Farm land was dominated by the ‘Eastwood Black Barn’ that stood there until the early 1960s.’

That area of Long Branch near Lake Ontario is home of some of the oldest trees in Canada, officials said. Some are older than Confederation which forged us into a country, from a Dominion, in 1867.

The flyers are being delivered by Canada Post.

For more information visit www.savelongbranchtrees.ca