bye bye old timers

Walking around with the kids, I've been noticing the damage caused to trees by the last windstorm.
Quite a few mature maples and a couple elms lost big branches. Later they were cut down but not all the way. And while it is less of a shock somehow- I still get the pleasure of gazing at root structure and miniature landscapes in moss and grass, of looking straight at the rough and intricate texture of bark, still their death is obvious in the fresh cuts. They look so vulnerable and naked and strangely human devoid of all their "appendages". Having witnessed so much-seems hard to imagine the street scape without them. My son asked about the squirrel we saw regularly in one of them, worried about him not having a home any more.
In a few cases there was no sign of rot or damage sufficient to necessitate such Draconian measures- couldn't help but wonder if people anxious about their property had taken the opportunity to remove what could be perceived as a future threat.
There are signs, traffic signs, no parking signs on a few them and so the trunks, up to the first division into branches, have been kept. If you were wrapped up enough in what was at eye level or bellow- If you didn't look up you might not even notice them gone. It's winter after all, and you wouldn't miss the foliage. there's one like that on Robie just before North.
When I think of how many mature tree there are in this area of the city and how much they enhance the quality of life in terms of air quality, shade, visual beauty, noise reduction and all round calming nature... I get attached and worry that there is nothing in place to ensure renewal, replanting, staggering to help strengthen an urban forest rendered vulnerable by trees weakened by age at the same time.