Lawsuit launched over tree-cutting in Stanley Park

There’s a new development as the City of Vancouver pushes ahead with its plan to chop down more than 160,000 trees in the city’s crown jewel due to the looper moth infestation.

A group of four people have filed a civil lawsuit against the city, the Vancouver Park Board, and the consulting group Blackwell and Associates. The lawsuit claims the city is being negligent.

“The tree cutting that they’re doing is … completely non-justifiable,” explained Michael Caditz, one of the founders of the Stanley Park Preservation Society. “The forest should have just been left alone.”

Caditz is mad that this is happening. He claims the park is noisier because the lack of trees doesn’t keep out nearby traffic noise, it’s muddy because the soil has been disrupted, the wind is no longer shielded, and it’s hotter because of the lack of shade provided by tree canopy. He claims the fire risk has also gone up.

He says “research-based science” shows the most severe fires occur in forests that have been thinned out. He goes on to say that the cut-down trees have left dry branches and leaves on the ground, which can be ammunition for a potential fire.

“One is that standing trees, dead or alive, shade the forest. They actually provide a fire block because the fast-moving catastrophic fires move along material on the ground, they’re not propelled through standing trees. So, the more trees you leave standing, the less serious fires are going to be if a fire occurs.”

Caditz says the group has shared their findings with the Park Board but feels they’re being ignored.

“We are interested in our own safety, the ability of other users of the park to enjoy Stanley Park, which is what the park is intended for. It’s hard to enjoy a park where there are these big clear-cut patches, where there’s heavy machinery … where it’s no longer a quiet experience, but a blight to the eyes and a blight to the ears.”

He’s hopeful the city bows to the legal pressure, and if it doesn’t, he says the group is preparing to seek an injunction, which Caditz is confident they’ll be granted.

“We believe we have a very strong case. We have multiple points … which prove why the operation is negligent. The Park Board, the City of Vancouver, have a duty of care to the people who use the park and to the nearby communities and the duty of care is not just to protect people from falling trees but it’s also to protect people’s experiences in the park.”

The majority of the trees being cut down are Western Hemlocks, the preferred food for looper moths.

The city previously stated that of the trees being taken down, 140,000 were considered young, dead, brown trees under 20 centimetres in diametre. The remaining 20,000 dead trees are larger than 20 centimetres in diametre.

-With files from Angelyna Mintz and Kier Junos.