Volunteers plant trees to rehabilitate area damaged by Trans Mountain Pipeline construction

The Mountain Protectors — an Indigenous-led group dedicated to monitoring the construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Burnaby — says it is trying to regenerate the land that has been damaged during that process.

Jim Leyden and Sam Munn, along with a handful of volunteers, have planted more than 100 trees in the stretch of land between Gaglardi Way and Lougheed Highway in Burnaby.

“Every tree we plant, we take power back from the oil industry that would rather just come through here and gut everything and leave,” said Leyden

“We want to remediate the sites so they get back to where they were. Be good neighbours.”

They are hoping to revitalize the area and return it to a forest — measures they say should be taken by Trans Mountain.

“I would like them to come and do the things they say they would do and take care of the things they say they would take care of,” Leyden said.

“A spiritual contract goes from the beginning to the end, and not the beginning until someone gets out what they want. And that is the history of the resource industry.”

In a statement, Trans Mountain says, in part, “Work crews are finishing final cleanup and reclamation activities along the pipeline corridor in Burnaby, which will continue through 2024. All remediation work is performed under a Canada Energy Regulator-approved Reclamation Management Plan…”

Part of the company’s reclamation commitment, in a section for parks and sensitive areas, reads, “Our goal is to protect rare plant species and reestablish native plant communities,” but the Mountain Protectors say this hasn’t been fulfilled by Trans Mountain.

“Even that kind of bare-minimum commitment they made to the people here,” Munn said.

Munn is hoping the trees they planted will survive the summer, and the group is looking for volunteers to help them water the saplings to help replenish the land.