VANCOUVER, BC – A remarkably powerful and timely innovation in urban forestry – the mighty Mini-Forest will be planted outside the Globe Forum at the Vancouver Convention Centre this week. Densely planted these native-species of trees and shrubs, grow faster, acting as urban oases and carbon sponges. Canadian Geographic and the Network of Nature partners are advocating for the establishment of these tiny forests in demonstration plots in communities across Canada. In its second year, the Network of Nature’s Mini-Forest initiative, after undertaking a series of pilot Mini-Forest plantings in 2023, developing training resources and communities of practice and experimenting with monitoring technologies, has attracted champions in communities from across the country who, with the required financial support, are prepared to help advance a national network of Mini-Forests.

Lisa Wood

Prof. Lisa Wood and her team at the University of Northern British Columbia have been awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance grant worth more than $1.5 million, with partner in-kind contributions for a five-year project, to study the effects of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBH) residues on ecosystem health. The grant is a first for UNBC and only awarded to projects addressing significant societal challenges. “This knowledge is urgently needed, given the large-scale use and persistence of GBH in the natural systems humans and wildlife rely on for high quality ecosystems services, like air and water quality, climate moderation and food sources,” said Wood. …“Canadians will benefit from the research conducted by better understanding the extent of the impact of GBH on forest systems,” said Wood. “Our partner organizations will use this information to support their mandates and advocate for updates to policy, where warranted.”

Top bureaucrats inside Vancouver city hall secretly approved spending $2.1 million last summer to remove tens of thousands of Stanley Park trees due to the Hemlock looper moth outbreak. Deputy city manager Karen Levitt rubber stamped the emergency request on Aug. 8 from Colin Knight in the finance department… Knight estimated $2.02 million for euphemistic “operational treatments” between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 on 39 hectares around the Stanley Park Causeway and Stanley Park Railway. During the same time period, “prescriptions” on 55 hectares around the railway, Prospect Point, Brockton Point, Vancouver Aquarium and the steep area above the seawall, for $55,000. …“It is the goal of this project to maximize the number of removals as part of this initial phase of a multi-year program to reduce the risk to public safety and potential for forest fires,” it said. “Any changes to the project phases, timelines and deliverables may be amended with prior Park Board approval.”

Much-needed snow is falling across the B.C. South Coast and Southern Interior mountains Sunday. The snowfall comes after the province reported the snowpack is at 61 per cent of normal with the South Coast mountains recording only 30 to 47 per cent of seasonal averages. This well-below-normal snowpack is raising concerns about drought heading into the spring and summer months. Ten to 20 centimetres of snow is expected in the mountains Sunday through Monday morning. …A snowfall warning is in effect for Whistler, Central and Northern Okanagan, South Thompson, West Columbia and East Kootenay regions.

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation says it has not accounted for thousands of trees cut down in Stanley Park. A Feb. 9 letter from freedom of information manager Kevin Tuerlings said “our office has confirmed with Park Board staff that there are no records responsive to your request for an inventory of trees designated for removal.” On Nov. 29, the park board announced that 160,000 trees would be chopped because of the Hemlock looper moth infestation and fears of a wildfire. In September, it hired forestry consultancy B.A. Blackwell and Associates on an emergency, no-bid contract. …A reporter applied Nov. 22 for the tree inventory, tree removal plan and arborist’s report, but the city sent a $450 invoice almost a month later… Tuerlings notified a reporter by email that the Blackwell report had been published on the city’s website, titled “Stanley Park Hemlock Looper Impact and Wildfire Risk Assessment”.