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Volunteers planted more than 500 native trees and shrubs at Tynehead Regional Park in Surrey, B.C., Saturday, part of a broader effort to build a natural buffer between the park and Highway 1.
Organizers say the natural barrier aims to reduce noise and increase shade along trails, while expanding wildlife habitats.
Saturday’s tree-planting event marked the fifth consecutive year of planting at the regional park, as volunteers target a new section along the highway each year to build up the buffer.
Michael Wiebe, executive director of the Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation, says reducing highway noise can benefit park users’ mental health alongside protecting wildlife.
“It’s very loud here. So we’ve created this buffer, and year after year it’s becoming better,” said Wiebe.
He said that with Metro Vancouver expecting another million people in the region by 2050, it’s critical to preserve public green spaces.
Tree canopy coverage in Surrey declined from 33 per cent to 29 per cent over the preceding two decades, according to the city’s 2023 Urban Forest Management Strategy.
The city said at the time that if development trends continued, that coverage could fall to 26 per cent by 2050.
The city has a target of increasing canopy coverage to 30 per cent by 2038.
Family fun
Dawson Clark and his toddler-aged son were among those planting trees Saturday, after his son saw volunteers doing the work and wanted to help.
“He saw you guys planting trees and wanted to help plant as well,” said Clark.
He said the family can now return to the park on walks and bike rides to check on the trees they’ve planted, which he says will make each visit more exciting.
Organizers told CBC News the trails in Tynehead Regional Park are popular in the summer, and as the newly planted trees become established, they will also provide shade for trailgoers during hotter months.
The results
The foundation says the planting event at Tynehead Regional Park is just one of 40 tree- and shrub-planting projects taking place across the region in October.
Wiebe expects more than 700 volunteers to plant more than 8,000 native trees and shrubs throughout Metro Vancouver regional parks this October, part of an initiative the foundation calls its “EcoBlitz.”
Last year, the foundation said 726 volunteers planted 7,344 native trees and shrubs across 15 regional parks during 40 events in October. It also said roughly 2.5 tonnes of invasive plants were removed from regional parks in Metro Vancouver during that same period.
The foundation has also planted trees at Grouse Mountain Regional Park, Kanaka Creek Regional Park and Burnaby Lake Regional Park this October.