Green Timbers Day
Sunday June 16, 1 to 4 pm (Fathers’ Day)
Make the day special for dear old dad, and everyone else in your life! The Surrey Natural Areas Partnership Outreach Team will be there with activities and snacks for kids of all ages (including dad-aged kids), we’ll have a few old people (like me) with pictures and information about what the lake used to look like (hint: nothing like it does now), a few tours of the first forestry replanting in BC and maybe even one to the big ol’ glacial erratic (a big rock). We’ll have some equipment for anyone wanting to do a garbage-picking-up tour!
Is anyone interested in leading a tour? No experience necessary, enthusiasm is helpful. C’mon! You can do it! Reply to this email if you’re interested!
Surrey’s Natural Areas Partnership
The Urban Forest Outreach team raises awareness within the community of the benefits of urban forests, promotes the adoption of stewardship behaviour in relation to urban forests, and fosters a sense of community connection with Surrey’s urban forest parks.
To date, the team has interacted with over 600 people in Surrey parks. The team has also canvassed 330 homes within Surrey to help educate residents about their local greenspaces.
The Tree Care team undertakes a variety of maintenance and enhancement tasks on the network of City-owned trees, contributing to the longevity and vitality of our City’s thriving urban forest.
To date, the team has helped to maintain nearly 500 City street trees by providing base maintenance. This process involves the removal of vegetation growing at the base of the tree, followed by the application of mulch.
The Habitat Restoration team helps to restore, maintain and enhance the ecological integrity and functioning of natural areas in Surrey.
To date, the team has removed invasive plants from numerous greenspaces in Surrey, amounting to an area of 700 m². This includes a volunteer event where SNAP collaborated with the Surrey Youth Stewardship Squad and the Surrey Youth Sustainability Network to remove invasive plants at Hazelnut Meadows Community Park. The team also completed a shoreline cleanup at Mud Bay and planted native species at the Godwin Farm Biodiversity Preserve Park.
May to June 2019
COLUMN: Surrey council has one consistent advocate for nature (June 5, 2019)
Trees ingest huge amounts of carbon dioxide and are effective in reducing greenhouse gases.
As far as Surrey is concerned, that seems to be of little consequence. Coun. Steven Pettigrew, who appears to be the only consistent advocate for the natural world on council, says council has approved removal of 50,000 trees since it took office in October.
…
Meanwhile, Surrey council has given approval for a lease of city-owned property at Green Timbers for transitional and emergency housing. This project has been in the works for years, and housing for these vulnerable people is needed. Too bad it involves the wholesale cutting of trees in one of the city’s two most significant forests.
It won’t be the last time the number of trees in Green Timbers will be reduced. The plan for SkyTrain along Fraser Highway will mean hundreds of trees planted as part of the 1930s reforestation effort (the first major reforestation project in B.C.) will be cut down. The only consolation is that even more would have come down if the former council’s LRT project had gone ahead.
https://www.peacearchnews.com/opinion/column-surrey-council-has-one-consistent-advocate-for-nature/
Surrey approves lease with province for shelter near Green Timbers forest (May 28, 2019)
The project is to include 99 transitional housing units and 31 emergency shelter beds
A transitional housing facility and emergency shelter near Green Timbers Urban Forest is one step closer to reality.
Surrey council voted Monday night to approve a 60-year lease for the city-owned property, at 9810 Foxglove Dr., to the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation to allow for the development and operation of the facility.
[Floxglove Drive will be a new street coming off of Green Timbers Way]
https://www.cloverdalereporter.com/news/surrey-approves-lease-with-province-for-shelter-near-green-timbers-forest/
Green Timbers forest advocates raise concerns about proposed Surrey-Langley SkyTrain route (May 15, 2019)
TransLink says it plans a ‘comprehensive’ environmental screening project review
Advocates for the Green Timbers Urban Forest are voicing environmental impact concerns for the proposed Surrey-Langley SkyTrain route through the forest.
The proposed SkyTrain route would go down Fraser Highway toward Langley and through the Green Timbers Urban Forest.
https://www.surreynowleader.com/news/green-timbers-forest-advocates-raise-concerns-about-proposed-surrey-langley-skytrain-route/
Surrey Natural Areas Partnership (SNAP) team helping to preserve natural heritage for future generations (May 15, 2019)
SPRING is in the air and that means boots on the ground for the 14-member Surrey Natural Areas Partnership (SNAP) team.
Fourteen post-secondary students and recent graduates will be employed from now until the end of August, thanks to the federal government’s Canada Summer Jobs program. They will be working on habitat restoration, urban forest outreach, and tree care. Two more students from high school will be hired for the summer months.
https://www.voiceonline.com/surrey-natural-areas-partnership-snap-team-helping-to-preserve-natural-heritage-for-future-generations/
New SkyTrain along Fraser Highway could mean some logging of Green Timbers (May 16, 2019)
There are renewed concerns over what rapid transit along Fraser Highway will mean for the strip of land adjacent to the roadway through Green Timbers Urban Forest in Surrey.
A roughly 1.5-km-long section of Fraser Highway runs through the forested park, which also happens to be the same route the proposed SkyTrain extension will take between King George Station and Langley Centre.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-logging-green-timbers-forest
Green Timbers group worried about Surrey-Langley SkyTrain (May 16, 2019)
TransLink says it will take into account the concerns of the community
The Green Timbers Heritage Society fears the Fraser Highway will be widened to accommodate the train
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Surrey nature lovers are raising concerns about what the proposed Surrey-Langley SkyTrain could do to Green Timbers, a rare urban forest in the region.
Don Schuetze with the Green Timbers Heritage Society fears the Fraser Highway will be widened to accommodate the train, dividing the beloved green space into smaller areas.
“Instead of having a forest that people can walk through, from the north to the south, now you’ve got a little bit in the south, you’ve got another little fragment in the middle, another little fragment in the north,” says Schuetze.
…
“there will be an ineffable damage done to the forest as a whole by widening that area”
https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/05/16/green-timbers-group-worried-about-surrey-langley-skytrain/
