Why this company says thousands of trees must be removed from Stanley Park – BC | Globalnews.ca
The consulting company that recommended the removal of thousands of trees from Stanley Park is sharing its perspective on a project that’s spurred considerable local controversy.
The Vancouver Park Board began removing trees from the park after it revealed in November 2023 that up to 160,000 of them had been killed by a hemlock looper moth infestation and had become unsafe.
The report that led to the removal was authored by B.A. Blackwell and Associates, which also worked to restore the Stanley Park forest after a damaging windstorm in 2006.
“I felt this was an opportunity to provide an education moment because there’s a lot to learn about this issue, it’s complicated,” Bruce Blackwell, the company’s principal, told Global News during a tour of the affected areas of the park on Thursday.
Blackwell was emphatic that the only purpose of the tree removal in the park is public safety.
On a walk through the park’s west side, one of the first areas to be infested by the moths, he pointed to numerous dead trees whose tops had already broken off in high winds.
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“You can see almost all the tops in this area have snapped off, there are not many that aren’t broken off. And these are not small,” he said.
“If they were to hit you on the head, falling from that height, they would seriously maim you or there could be fatalities.”
Blackwell added that keeping people out of the affected areas during stormy weather has proven difficult, with numerous people ignoring closures despite the risk.
Blackwell said between 20,000 and 30,000 trees will ultimately need to be removed, far fewer than the 160,000 that have been affected. That’s because many of the dead trees are smaller and don’t pose a public safety risk, he said.
The operation has become a significant flashpoint in the city, with one citizens group taking Blackwell and the city to court claiming the plan isn’t backed by science.
The same group recently spoke at a Vancouver Park Board meeting, where they alleged the infected trees are not dangerous.
“We want to stop it,” Michael Caditz with the group Save Stanley Park told Global News in an interview earlier this year. “We as a society will do everything in our power to prevent the resumption of logging.”
The risk is very real, according to Blackwell, along with the future threat of wildfire as dead trees and branches become dry fuel.
He added that the tone of the opposition has also become hostile to his team, who he maintains are trying to protect the park and the public.
“A lot of people have suggested this is all for money. Well, we are consultants, we are not loggers, we have hired people who have the skills to climb these trees and do the work,” he said.
“We are just normal people — we are a small company. We are portrayed as a large logging company that is multinational or something.”
As a part of the tour, he pointed to areas of the park that had been reforested after the 2006 storm, where replanted trees are now nearing 20 years old.
He said the remediation plan aims to do similar work in parts of the park affected by the looper moth.
A lifelong Vancouverite, he said he understands why people are upset about the number of trees coming down, but said that the work must be done.
“This place is special to me … When I was six years old I came here fishing for the first time and fished off the seawall,” he said.
“I felt I just needed to say something. We are people, and we are just trying to do the right thing and we are trying to protect the public.”
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