Toronto seeks to save oak tree

TORONTO, Canada: In the shadow of Canada’s largest cluster of skyscrapers, Toronto is looking to preserve a majestic, centuries-old oak tree -- but efforts have been complicated by the pandemic.

The towering 24-meter (79-feet) high Northern Red Oak is one of the oldest trees in these parts, having sprouted an estimated 300 years ago, around the time that French explorers set up a trading post on the nearby shores of Lake Ontario.

The tree now finds itself in the back yard of a nondescript bungalow on a winding street in the heart of a residential North York neighborhood.

Its huge trunk has a circumference of five meters and brushes up against the back of the 1960s house.

In summer, its long leafy branches shade the entire lot from the sun’s rays.

But in recent years, a new homeowner expressed concerns about being able to afford proper tree maintenance and its roots cracking the house’s foundation.