Over 500 native trees and shrubs were planted by volunteers at Tynehead Regional Park in Surrey, B.C., on Saturday. This initiative is part of a larger project to establish a natural barrier between the park and Highway 1 to reduce noise levels and enhance shade along the trails, as well as create more habitats for wildlife.
The tree-planting event held on Saturday marked the fifth consecutive year of planting at the regional park. Each year, volunteers focus on a new section along the highway to strengthen the buffer zone.
Michael Wiebe, the executive director of the Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation, emphasized the importance of reducing highway noise for the mental well-being of park users and wildlife protection. He highlighted the positive impact of the ongoing buffer creation, stating, “It’s very loud here. So we’ve created this buffer, and year after year it’s becoming better.”
With Metro Vancouver projected to welcome an additional million residents by 2050, preserving public green spaces is crucial. According to Surrey’s 2023 Urban Forest Management Strategy, tree canopy coverage in the city decreased from 33% to 29% over the past two decades. If current development trends continue, this coverage could drop to 26% by 2050. The city aims to raise canopy coverage to 30% by 2038.
Dawson Clark and his young son participated in the tree-planting activity at the park, inspired by seeing other volunteers in action. Clark shared that the family plans to revisit the park for walks and bike rides to monitor the trees they planted, making each visit more engaging.
The organizers of the event mentioned that the trails at Tynehead Regional Park are popular in the summer. As the newly planted trees grow, they will offer shade to trail users during the warmer months.
The Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation is conducting 40 tree-planting projects throughout the region in October, with the tree-planting event at Tynehead Regional Park being just one of them. Over 700 volunteers are expected to plant more than 8,000 native trees and shrubs across Metro Vancouver regional parks this October as part of the foundation’s “EcoBlitz” initiative.
In the previous year, 726 volunteers planted 7,344 native trees and shrubs in 15 regional parks across Metro Vancouver during 40 events in October. Additionally, approximately 2.5 tonnes of invasive plants were removed from regional parks in the area during the same period. The foundation has also carried out tree plantings at Grouse Mountain Regional Park, Kanaka Creek Regional Park, and Burnaby Lake Regional Park this October.
