Thousands of trees at Vancouver’s Stanley Park will be soon removed or “managed,” according to the city’s park board.
On Friday, the Vancouver Park Board is beginning the process of removing trees that have been affected by the hemlock looper moth infestation.
Around 25 per cent of trees in Stanley Park will be either removed or managed, the park board said.
With this ongoing work, traffic in the park will be severely impacted.
On Friday, there will be stops of up to 15 minutes, followed by 10-minute openings to traffic on Pipeline Road. The same schedule will be applied on Stanley Park Drive from Oct. 23 to 27. Tunnel Trail is closed until Nov. 3.
“These temporary closures are in place to allow large machinery access across main thoroughfares and create safe active work zones as overhead tree work is underway,” City of Vancouver staff said in a release.
“Though efforts will be made to minimize disruption as much as possible, visitors should expect delays and plan accordingly.”
Access to the seawall, adjacent to the impacted section of Stanley Park Drive, may be restricted in tandem with the intermittent closures as well.
Parking areas will be impacted as well due to the work.
Stanley Park is experiencing a hemlock looper outbreak that has damaged many of its trees, including western hemlock, Douglas fir and grand fir.
The hemlock looper moth is an endemic insect that experiences population outbreaks approximately every 15 years.
Its larvae hatch in the spring and aggressively feed on foliage, causing the most damage between July and October.
It feeds on coastal coniferous species, which makes Stanley Park particularly vulnerable.
The Vancouver Park Board said more information on forest management will be released in the “coming weeks.”