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Calgary has changed and grown around the elm rooted in the middle of a parking lot by the Saddledome, yet the city’s next push for growth could be the end for the century-old tree.

Although no one knows when the Victoria Park tree, also known as the “Stampede Elm,” was planted, it has seen every Calgary Stampede and has remained standing during the development of the city, expansion of the Stampede and construction of the Saddledome in the 1980s. The tree has been protected by many over the years, however, it sits where the city’s new arena will be built.

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“That tree has seen a huge transition of Victoria Park over the last 120 years, when that neighbourhood started in the early 1900s,” said Josh Traptow, executive director of the Calgary Heritage Authority. “That tree really has seen a lot. Any time that you’re going to lose a tree that’s that old, it’s unfortunate.”

Traptow said trees are often lost in the conversation about heritage and what streetscapes looked like, but they were as much a part of an old neighbourhood as the buildings.