Some frequent users of National Capital Commission (NCC) greenspaces are criticizing the cleanup of thousands of trees toppled by a devastating windstorm three months ago, and say they're frustrated that it's been so tight-lipped about efforts to date and restoration plans moving forward.

But they're also afraid that if they push too hard and complain too much, the Crown corporation responsible for conserving the Greenbelt — a large but little understood ecological treasure encircling the inner city, more than half of which was covered in trees before the May 21 derecho storm — will wash its hands of the problem by letting go of certain of its natural spaces.

And they don't want that, either.

NCC woodlands took a huge hit during the storm that killed 12 people, according to researchers with the Northern Tornadoes Project, and felled thousands of trees across a long stretch of Ontario and Quebec.

Every Greenbelt sector was affected: Shirley's Bay, Stony Swamp, Southern Farm & Pinhey Forest, Pine Grove, Mer Bleue and Green's Creek. The NCC said it was the first time it could recall ever having to close the entire Greenbelt, and some trails are still closed today.

WATCH | Stark drone visuals from across Greenbelt:

Some of the footage of damage collected during drone surveys is startling: ribbons of trees thrust down like dominoes and wide swaths of woods pressed down in one direction, as if by some giant foot (in reality, by microbursts consistent with EF0, EF1 and EF2 tornadoes that struck intermittently, but particularly hard in the south of the city).

The NCC is still digging itself out of the unprecedented detritus, and will continue to deal with the effects of the storm for years as it tries to hold back invasive species given fertile room to spread, plants replacement trees in some places, keeps tabs on the decomposition of all the mulched debris and manages fire risk, among other things.

So far the commission said it's spent $1 million on removing hazards to people, which is still ongoing. 

More spending is to come as it later removes coarse debris along trails, paths and boundaries, assesses fences and boardwalks, and sets restoration priorities.

You can find people concerned about cleanup efforts and progress to date across the Greenbelt, but some of the most vocal surround Conroy Pit off-leash dog park, in the especially hard-hit Pine Grove sector in south Ottawa.

The NCC just reopened the off-leash area close to the main parking lot but said the dense woods remain closed because they're still unsafe.

Dale Schierbeck, a dog owner who lives close by and has been using the park daily for 20 years, said that he was perplexed by the en-masse removal of trees — some of them young and healthy — in select areas along trails throughout the park, where trunks and branches chewed into mulch by heavy machinery left some dangerous chunks behind.

Indeed, across the Greenbelt, forestry work akin to what you'd see in a commercial harvest in B.C. is underway, leaving wide, open spaces with little to no trees left.

The NCC contends that nothing has been "clear-cut," though there's no question that many areas have been stripped of all trees.

The difference is that some of the debris has been mulched and left to decompose naturally, restoring carbon to the soil to aid natural growth in the future.

Healthy trees are only removed when they're close to damaged trees, according to the NCC, allowing contractors to work more safely (the NCC doesn't perform this work itself; contractors do under the direction of an NCC forester).

But Schierbeck wonders whether the debris could be better processed, at least in Conroy Pit.

"You would stand to question why a place where people are going to be walking and dogs are going to be allowed off leash would be leaving ... splinters that are three feet long, literally," he said.

"I mean, it's shrapnel that they've turned the trees into."

Adding to the frustration is that it was residents touting their own chainsaws, not NCC's contractors, who cleared trails of fallen trees in about three-quarters of the park, according to his partner Jessica Schierbeck.

Those wooded areas cleared by volunteers officially remain closed, but the trails continue to be used by the Schierbecks and others every day.

CBC counted dozens of people visiting the site with their dogs on an afternoon visit earlier this month, before any of the park had been reopened, and entrances to the woods off residential streets are not blocked and boast no signs about any closure.

"The only reason the [wooded] south end of the park [near Rosebella Avenue and Sixth Street] is walkable is because of volunteers, not because of the NCC," Jessica Schierbeck said.

WATCH | Residents describe frustrations and fears:

Dale Schierbeck doesn't understand what the holdup is, given that it took volunteers a short time to clear trails on their own.

For its part, the NCC said it knows people are anxious to use closed trails but is asking people to "remain patient while our teams secure and clear" sites, and that "handling fallen trees is a risky task that should be handled by professionals."

It's hoping to have all trails open sometime in the fall.

There are other, more longstanding problems in the Greenbelt.

Much of what makes up Conroy Pit, Pine Grove and Pinhey Forest — which suffered the worst damage — was actually planted by the province as a crop in the 1950s and '60s to make telephone and utility poles, according to NCC biologist Alexander Stone, who works in the commission's Greenbelt team.

While red pine does pop up naturally in the region it's not normally so prolific, and straight row after straight row of the trees have created acidic soil that hasn't allowed for healthy undergrowth and other native species to move in, Stone said.

WATCH | NCC biologist says there's an opportunity to improve forests:

Now that so many of them have fallen it presents an opportunity, Stone said, to plant diverse native species of trees and shrubs that will better replicate the great forests that existed prior to colonization and logging, and better stand up to the effects of climate change.

But it will take a lot of time and work to get there, and some people doubt whether the NCC is up to it.

For years, the commission has made no secret of its inability to properly maintain its assets.

Report after report and plan after plan mention its deferred maintenance cycle or loop — in which it's locked into handling only critical issues and repairs, leaving everything else to slowly deteriorate, because it doesn't have the money and resources to keep everything it owns in good condition all the time.

NCC woodlands are typically left to their own devices to allow natural work to unfold.

But ongoing maintenance pressures could spell particular trouble in the Greenbelt in the context of climate change, as increasing temperatures create storms that are both more powerful and more frequent, creating more and more work for the NCC in the woods.

The derecho perfectly illustrated this just as NCC teams and leaders were coincidentally finalizing a Climate Vulnerability and Risk Assessment — released in June to little media attention as the capital still reeled from the exceptional May storm.

Consider this line from the assessment: "If climate risks are not proactively managed, the NCC will need to seek more funds, decrease service level standards, and/or abandon assets and programs."

The maintenance pressure will likely only increase as hotter temperatures drive more and more people into the shade for relief, creating more stress on already delicate ecosystems, as the risk assessment points out.

It worries people like the Schierbecks, who want NCC forests to be better looked after but also don't want to rattle the cage.

"Whether in the context of pandemic planning or climate change or ... any number of things, the canopy, the forest in here, it's important to not just ... the users of this park, it's important to the entire city and our overall geography," Dale Schierbeck said.

"I'm afraid that if we push the NCC and become a pain in their butt, they'll just close the doors on something like this."

The NCC twice did not answer questions about whether it has a list of assets it could potentially divest itself of, and whether any greenspace could be on the chopping block if funding and resources don't improve.

It said only that it's 2013 Greenbelt Master Plan calls for the expansion of the Greenbelt, and while the plan notes "exploring options to expand the Greenbelt," it also "proposes the addition of 481 hectares of land ... to compensate for the removal of 1,347 hectares that constitute the airport operating area. The result is a Greenbelt that is 20,600 hectares in size."

Before the storm hit, the NCC had just recently committed to plant 100,000 trees as part of its 2021-2026 Forest Strategy.

But in the face of climate change, increasing stress on ecosystems "will make it increasingly difficult for the NCC to maintain the tree canopy and achieve its tree-planting targets," according to the climate adaptability assessment.

"With the NCC's recent commitment to plant 100,000 trees, additional resources will be required to maintain this existing resource in a functional state. Even more resources will need to be allocated for the planting and management of additional trees because of the effects of climate change."

Another issue is that the NCC has not yet updated its list of which species are best to plant.

That means many of the trees being planted now and until the list is finished (which could be far away as 2026) may not be capable of adapting to projected changes in temperatures and precipitation, according to the assessment.

The Schierbecks said the NCC has left them and other residents across the Greenbelt in the dark for months about its cleanup strategy and rationale, and that they just want to know what the plan is.

And if the NCC needs assistance, Dale Schierbeck said there are people more than willing to pitch in. 

"I think it would be very helpful if they communicated with the community, the users of the park. There's certainly lots of ways that they could be doing that ... and even more appropriately, I think to engage us and ask us what would be of help," he said.

The NCC said it's been posting updates about trail reopenings and notices about upcoming forestry operations online, and that if people want more information, they can reach out to their community associations, which the NCC has been in contact with.

Mike Vorobej, a longtime user of Greenbelt trails who has worked with community groups and organizations like Save the Hunt Club Forest, ReImagine Ottawa and the Council of Canadians, said he thinks NCC forests have been languishing for many years, and that the NCC doesn't work hard enough to engage people about its woodlands and trails, and their ongoing development.

"The COVID situation created such interest in people [in the Greenbelt] ... looking for a safe place to go. And I think there's so many more people that have discovered the trails, which I think is wonderful because we need them to be used, to be valued. But we need a dialogue with the NCC on what's going to happen," he said, adding the storm has created opportunities to expand some gravel parking lots and forge new trails. 

"I don't like to pile on to stereotypes, but there is a stereotype of the NCC being an ivory tower, being responsible to no one and not feeling the need to explain themselves to anybody. And ... if that is not true, then let them disprove it."

The commission is holding a news conference Monday morning at Pinhey Forest to provide more details and statistics about the damage cause by the derecho.

On Sept. 10, the NCC will hold open houses for the public at 10 of its sites. Details are expected sometime next week, but one of them will be held in the Greenbelt to talk about the storm.

In the longer term, the NCC's Greenbelt Master Plan is supposed to be reviewed every 10 years, meaning the next review should come in 2023.

And now that the climate risk assessment is out of the way, a 10-year Climate Adaptation Strategy is starting to be developed this fall with completion expected in fall 2023.

Meanwhile, do you need some red pine logs?

When forestry work is done, the NCC will allow people to salvage red pine logs between 2.5 and 3.5 metres long, which are being stockpiled at damage sites across the Greenbelt.

Anyone interested can apply by filing a Land Access Permit request, but the NCC said residents are advised that salvaging wood will be done at their own risk because the logs are heavy.

CBC Ottawa reporter Kristy Nease has covered news in the capital for nearly 15 years, and previously worked at the Ottawa Citizen. Get in touch: kristy.nease@cbc.ca

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