STANLEY PARK NOTEBOOK
/ANCIENT GIANTS IN THE HEART OF STANLEY PARK
Colin Spratt with a Ancient Western Red Cedar.
(click images to enlarge)
by Jacqui Birchall
(photos courtesy of Colin Spratt)
The best thing about writing this column is the amazing people I get to interview. Colin Spratt, a very personable 26-year-old ancient tree guru is no exception.
Colin is writing a book called The Last Ancient Trees of Vancouver and recently took me bushwhacking in Stanley Park to show me the wonder of the ancient trees that lie, for the most part, undiscovered and unappreciated by the general public.
During the COVID lockdown, Colin has spent his time searching “every corner of Stanley Park and Pacific Spirit Park” to locate and map all the old-growth trees left. Colin is possibly one of the only people to date who has extensively covered every metre of Stanley Park and UBC searching for ancient trees.
Colin dreams of a boardwalk, which he is currently designing, that will both protect the trees and allow the public, especially those who cannot bushwhack, to view these amazing trees. He hopes signage and fencing will help protect these neglected trees, many of which are surrounded by garbage, are trampled, and used for campfire sites because of the cover they provide.
Colin notes that “At a time when old-growth logging is at such a critical point where the industry is still trying to wipe away the last remaining 2.7 percent of old-growth trees, these giants within the city limits can act as a way of showing the public just how special these trees are and why we need to protect and preserve what is left elsewhere. To me, the writing of my book about old-growth trees in the city limits and my goal of creating ancient tree boardwalks and fencing systems in Stanley Park is an important step towards educating our youth about why we need to save these trees and why what's currently happening within our province needs to stop.
1902 and 2021 photos of an ancient cedar on Stanley Park Drive.
“Too long these ancient urban giants have been neglected and covered in garbage and trampled. We need to protect the last stands of old-growth in our city and cherish them just like we need to cherish Fairy Creek and the rest of BC's old-growth.”
Since Colin’s search to find and document all the old-growth trees in Stanley and Pacific Spirit Parks, he has been told continuously by many that there are no old-growth trees left in Vancouver.
Colin asserts that cedars 600 to 800 years old, the third-largest grand fir in BC, the largest maple tree in BC, (possibly Canada), and Douglas Firs 400 plus years old, still exist around us. Mostly unobserved even by those who claim to know Stanley Park and UBC.
Of all the signs in Stanley Park, Colin points out there are none showing where the beautiful ancient trees lie. Colin hopes to change all that.
In Colin’s words, “Stanley Park is often cited as a carefully crafted and manicured idealized city garden with little if any original forest left and nothing resembling its original state of wilderness. This popular opinion comes from a place of some truth, but sadly the exaggerated history of the trees we have lost obscures the real truth of the matter that hundreds of trees predating the colonial era still stand. Many of these trees were centuries old when Europeans first arrived on these shores.
Colin's friend Naomi beside one of the many ancient cedars hidden off trail.
“In a sense, the last remaining sections of original Vancouver are ignored and not labeled as such because our history books tell us the park has been so manipulated nothing remains of what once was, and this is false. In no way is it left untouched (although UBCs old growth area, although not massive, is mostly untouched).
“Before Stanley Park became a park in 1888, it was selectively logged between the 1860s to the 1880s. Six different companies carried out selective logging with one of the biggest such outfits being run by Edward Stamp who thought Brockton Point would be an ideal location for a lumber mill. The only fully clear-cut part of Stanley Park today is the 40 hectares Edward Stamp cleared, which today is the Brockton sports fields beside the famous totem poles. Stamp ended up relocating the mill due to the rip tides, the narrow passage, and the hidden shoals all of which impeded the construction of a wharf on the point.
“Most of the trails today through Stanley Park are old skid roads used to carry logs out of the park. Despite this period of selective logging by six companies, by the time logging ceased they didn't get anywhere close to cutting down all the original trees and the majority of the park remained standing. But there are still more reasons many people believe very little old-growth is left: The devastating windstorms of 1901, 1934, 1962, and 2006 also blew down many of Stanley Park's original trees. These massive storms felled tens of thousands of trees, but in a forest of about half a million trees in no way did these major wind events fell every old-growth tree.
“A third event is also used as a reference for why there is no more old-growth or very few left. In the 1910s the Park Board and City managers noticed a lot of the trees were starting to look more ragged and defoliated. Large numbers of the old-growth hemlock trees were infested with Hemlock Looper Moths and Gall Aphids were affecting the ancient Sitka Spruce.
The man on a mission to find every old growth left in Vancouver, stands beside an ancient Douglas Fir.
“The federal government sent a team of entomologists from Ottawa to Vancouver and it was determined that four different steps needed to take place to save the forest. These included removing all dead or dying trees, all the understory and dead trees lying on the forest floor, the dead tops of trees, and finally having all the Sitka Spruce and Hemlock trees eliminated.
“Evidence of this multi decades-long forest over-management plan is still seen today with the vast majority of ancient Cedars having their tops missing, a complete lack of ancient Sitka Spruces, and I've only been able to locate one remaining old-growth hemlock tree. I was the first to discover it.
“Sadly the chopping down of the tops of these old-growth Cedar trees was also done in a large part, for aesthetic reasons (smoothing out the tree skyline) and for public safety since the tops tend to blow off from time to time in wind events.
“Despite selective logging, one hundred years of severe wind events and tens of thousands of trees blowing down, massive bug outbreaks, fires, and very dated forest management practices from the early twentieth century that caused more harm than good, there are still so many old-growth trees in Vancouver it took me six months to catalog them all. What a miracle they still remain! There are so many old-growth trees in fact there would be no way to visit them all in a single day, and at times it seems like an endless amount. It took me six months to visit them all in Stanley Park and I am still trying to visit them all in Pacific Spirit Park.“
The COVID lockdowns and the temporary vehicle restrictions in the park allowed Collin to enjoy countless hours in the park free of cars and tourists. He notes “the park took on a whole different feeling, and on some afternoons I felt as if the park was almost empty and I had it all to myself.”
Google searches brought Colin to Ira Sutherland’s website, which Colin tells me was his bible at the start of his urban ancient tree journey, an amazing source of information. Colin visited all the trees on Sutherland’s website, which included trees in the 68 hectares of old-growth forest in UBC.
As Colin wandered deeper and deeper off the trails in Stanley Park and UBC he discovered more ancient trees. After only two months he had discovered more ancient trees not listed on any websites, the official UBC big tree registry, or in any book. After only two months he had discovered over 200 ancient trees hidden from view in Stanley Park.
Colin also notes the work done by the late Randy Stoltman whose book Hiking the Ancient Forests of British Columbia and Washington provides insight into the ancient trees of Stanley Park. Stoltman started the Big Tree Registry and was a key figure in stopping the logging in the Carmanah Valley which led to the creation of the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park
As well as photographing the trees, Colin also draws them. The long, quiet drawing periods deep in the park allow him to also see much of the wonderful wildlife.
Colin has used old maps of Stanley Park to find old, now unused trails. He has also checked old postcards from the 1800s to the 1940s to locate still standing giants and to find stumps of previously photographed ancient trees. Colin has located about twelve trees this way.
Colin found a stump shown in dozens of photos of a totem pole attached to the stump. The photos date from about 1900. Colin found the man who removed this totem pole (an original First Nations totem pole from the 1800s) and was able to track down the actual pole in a storage facility held by the Museum of Vancouver.
Colin tells me necessity is the mother of invention and he is only writing the book because he was actively looking for such a book at the start of his journey and none existed. He may be the only person to try and find every single one of these trees in the city. The book will focus on Pacific Spirit and Stanley Parks’ old-growth including 36 accurate drawings of the most significant trees, fold-out maps of Stanley Park and UBC old-growth locations, and measurements and probable age of these trees, plus descriptions and history of the areas dating back to the ice age to present day and the Coast Salish people who lived there and their history of being removed from their land.
Colin fears that publishing the whereabouts of the trees may lead to more damage and more garbage, which is why he has recently turned his focus to designing boardwalks for a proposal to the city that would be a very protective addition.
There is much garbage deep in Stanley Park and not all of it can be attributed to the homeless. Large parties, known as raves, have been the focus of police and park rangers during the summer. The public also has much to answer for. Lees Trail has an inordinate amount of garbage, which is removed by industrious park rangers, kind members of the public, and Colin has also organized garbage cleanups around the most significant old-growth trees. More garbage removal needs to be done.
If you would like to follow Colin’s progress on his book and the new trees he is discovering weekly, you can follow him at @ancient_trees_of_vancouver. He is very receptive to questions and messages and is happy to show you some of the giant trees.
Colin’s day job is mixing and mastering music. He also writes music. You can find him at @colinsprattmastering. Colin hopes to encourage more people in the music industry to raise awareness of the ancient trees and to raise donations to save old-growth throughout the province.
The Green Frogs of Lost Lagoon are not a native species, but you can’t miss their croaking! (Jacqui Birchall Photo)
STANLEY PARK NOTES
I was very sorry to hear that the motion-activated cameras SPES had installed in the park to monitor the activities of coyotes and other wildlife have been stolen or vandalized.
Have you heard the frogs singing in Lost Lagoon and Beaver Lake? This is a Green Frog, and is not a native species. They are the ones in Beaver Lake that sound like someone plucking banjo strings!
The Vancouver Aquarium reopened to members on Sunday, August 15, and to the public on Monday, August 16 after being closed for 14 months. The new executive director is Clint Wright, the new owners are Herschend Family Entertainment. Time-specific tickets are available online.
Hopefully, the destructive and annoying hemlock looper moths will soon be gone. Information on the moths can be found here.
Have you had any luck contacting the Vancouver Park Board or Vancouver 3-1-1 online regarding park issues? I have not!
