Vancouver Park Board to vote on second phase of Stanley Park tree removal

Downed trees, felled due to a looper moth infestation, are seen in Stanley Park in March 2024. (CTV News)

The second phase of a planned massive tree removal in Stanley Park is on the agenda at the park board Monday night.

About 160,000 trees have been classified as dead or dying as a result of a hemlock looper moth outbreak and will be cut down. The number works out to about one-third of all trees in the beloved green space.

Crews cut down about 7,000 trees earlier this year, drawing criticism from some residents.

Twent five per cent of Stanely Park’s area was targeted in the first phase of the project and 11 per cent will be targeted in the next phase – with plans to begin in mid-October.

Michael Caditz is the founder of Save Stanley Park. He believes the science does not support the plans to remove the trees.

“The hemlock looper is endemic, it’s native, it’s part of the ecosystem,” he said. “That’s what’s concerning to people. This is only the beginning.”

According to Richard Hamelin, a Forrest and Conservation Science professor with the University of British Columbia, hemlock looper usually disappears after a few years.

“It’s a good question, ‘Why not let nature do its thing?’” said Hamelin. “Normally that is what you would do if there was not so many visitors to the park.”

The decaying trees create safety hazards, even the hemlock trees that may appear fine on the outside, can often be rotting inside, he says.

Brennan Bastyovanszky, the park board chair, says the trees are being removed as a safety precaution – saying the concern is that they could fall down on a car, building or person.

"Those risks are real at the moment,” he said

"If we were up in Whistler, if we were in the Interior and people weren't around and there wasn't a highway driving right through it, I would have had a different approach,” he said.

Since the removal started, there have been 25,000 new seedlings planted, according to the park board.