SASKATOON -- Muriel Hildebrand has lived on 33rd Street across from the rail tracks for nearly 70 years, and her usual view is a bit different after she said CP Rail crews came in and clear-cut all the trees along the tracks months ago. 

“They should have cleaned it all up if they cut them down,” Hildebrand said. 

“But why cut them down in the first place?” 

This is a question similar to what SOS Trees Coalition president Linda Moskalyk asked CP Rail three times, finally receiving a response. 

“Safety is integral to CP's long-term success and the foundation of everything we do. To ensure the safety of the public, our employees, our operations and the environment, CP undertakes a comprehensive annual vegetation management program across its rail network,” CP Rail told Moskalyk in an email. 

CTV News reached out to CP but hasn’t received a response.

Moskalyk said she understands the need for safety, and would have understood trimming and cutting trees that are near the tracks, but she didn’t see the point of clearing all the trees, which she estimates was over 1,000 trees. 

Hildebrand said she will miss walking across the road to gather berries from a Saskatoon berry bush she said was cut down while CP was clearing the area.

Now that the trees are down, Hildebrand said she is mostly disappointed that she and her neighbours received no notice that the work was happening.

She said she’s hoping that CP will “come clean this mess up.”