They operate in stealth, planting fruit trees on public property in the hopes of escaping official notice until the trees are too big to chop down.

“Guerrilla” tree-planters say they’re so frustrated by school and city bureaucracies that require months of planning and approvals they’ve had to resort to greening up the Forest City in secret.

And they’re attracting ire from officials, including at Western University, where five trees planted this month have been removed. They’ll be re-planted this week elsewhere on public property, likely at schools that likewise have cumbersome approvals processes, said guerrilla planter Teresa Rutten.

“To me, guerrilla planting is doing what is right, regardless of whether there’s official permission,” she said.

Most guerilla planting is done in daylight by people who look like they’re supposed to be there. Her group plants fruit and nut trees so Londoners can enjoy free local food sources.

Her group of fewer than 10 has planted 56 trees, eight shrubs and four vines.

She is part of a local group called Food Not Lawns, and she also has sought, unsuccessfully, to plant trees at community gardens so Londoners can have access to fresh apples, pears and nuts.

It’s ironic, she said, that a community working toward a local food policy, ecological education and that is challenging citizens to plant one million trees puts up roadblocks.

Western sees it differently. Beverley Ayani said the school has strategic planting guidelines. It also has committed to planting 750 trees in the next decade.

In mid-October, the Food Not Lawns group sought Western’s permission to plant but was asked to wait for the right time and approved locations, she said. When the trees went in the ground on Middlesex College hill anyhow — where a beech tree had been planned — the school was “caught off-guard.”

Andrew MacPherson, of the city’s parks and planning division, said the group has good intentions but there are plenty of opportunities for Londoners to plant trees through city processes.

Rutten said she and her group will continue their work. “This has really been an uncomfortable process for me. I don’t like not going through the proper process, but I have done it because it is the right thing to do.”

Mayor Joni Baechler admitted to mixed feelings about the activity, saying the city should make it easier for people wanting to plant. But, she said, people who plant on public property don’t know if the city plans a soccer field there or another amenity. “The (city’s) forestry division requires the right tree in the right place at the right time.”

Meanwhile, the person who planted the trees at Western, and who wanted to remain anonymous, is disappointed. Food trees build an extra layer of resilience in case of tough times, he said.

When bureaucracies impede good deeds, they’re not doing anyone a favour. “Educational institutions should be aware of how important it is to grow food trees in general,” he said.

deb.vanbrenk@sunmedia.ca