70 trees get axe from park board, but Hollow Tree wins reprieve
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 | 7:55 AM PT
CBC News
The view from the top of Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park will soon include fewer trees. (CBC) The Vancouver Park Board approved a contentious plan to improve a lookout view in Queen Elizabeth Park by cutting down 70 trees on Monday night, but also reversed a decision to cut down the famous Hollow Tree in Stanley Park.
Board commissioners were looking to restore the once popular view across downtown Vancouver toward the North Shore Mountains from the top of 127-metre-tall Little Mountain at the centre of the park.
At least 24 people had signed up to speak at the park board meeting Monday night. For most, like Michael Barkusky with the False Creek Watershed Society, cutting trees to create a view was unacceptable.
"Trees are natural capital assets. And natural capital is increasingly scarce in this world. That is why oil is $150 a barrel," said Barkusky.
But concerns like his weren't enough sway the commissioners, who want to clear sweeping views that have become obscured as the trees grew.
Park board chair Korina Houghton said she believes the silent majority of park users think cutting some trees is worthwhile.
"As I think Commissioner Robertson said, we are not hearing from those people. But we would hear just as many people that are passionate about striking that balance," said Robertson.
Park staff said some of the trees now slated for removal are already sick, and all will be replaced at a two-to-one ratio with new trees in other parts of the park.
Park board staff will remove the trees later this summer, and any trees with nesting birds won't be touched until the birds have left.
Hollow Tree spared the axe, for now
Meanwhile the Vancouver Park Board reversed a previous decision and decided to study options to keep Stanley Park's famous Hollow Tree standing instead of cutting it this week as planned.
Stanley Park's iconic Hollow Tree has won a 150-day reprieve while park board engineers study options to keep it standing. (CBC) Board commissioners voted Monday night to give a 150-day reprieve to one of Vancouver's oldest treasures while the board commissions independent engineers to study options to keep the dead cedar standing.
The 13-metre-tall stump located on Park Drive is at least 700 years old, and for generations people have been photographed standing in the tree's opening.
Storm damage in recent years, especially 2006, has caused the decomposing hollow trunk to tilt dangerously. The park board voted on March 31 to cut it down, despite opposition from people who said other options should have been given more consideration.
The trunk, which has a 20-metre circumference, is held up by cables, and the surrounding area has been fenced off to keep the public from approaching.
The park board said in April that the Hollow Tree would continue to be a tourist attraction after it is cut down, because it would be placed on its side and split in two to make a tree tunnel for visitors.
