<div><strong>Stanley Park is a </strong><a href="https://stanleyparkecology.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ParksCanada_Commemorative-Integrity-Statement-2002.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>National Historic Site of Canada</strong></a> <strong>, world-renowned tourist destination, and cherished natural refuge from city life for thousands of nearby urban dwellers.</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The City of Vancouver and its forestry contractor have been conducting what they say are tree risk and fire prevention operations in Stanley Park since fall of 2023, resulting in the removal of 11,016 trees. So far, the operations have affected approximately 58% of the 263 hectares of native forest in Stanley Park. <strong>Another operation to log the remaining 42% is imminent</strong>.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Further, the City and several Vancouver Park Board commissioners have <a href="https://vimeo.com/1030898246?share=copy&amp;fl=sv&amp;fe=ci" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stated their intention to replace </a> native coastal western hemlocks with species such as Douglas fir and red alder, on the claim that the naturally dominant hemlocks are “doomed.”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>No credible scientific evidence</strong> has been presented to justify this massive deforestation and transformation of Stanley Park. In fact, the Stanley Park forest represents one of the <a href="https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/bowen-island-coastal-western-hemlock-forests-fact-sheet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">last remaining native coastal western hemlock </a> forests (CWH) in North America, and supports a vast and diverse web of life which depends upon the coastal western hemlock as a keystone species.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The chain of events which led to this debacle started in 2022 with the natural feeding cycle of the hemlock looper, a native defoliating insect whose activity peaks in ten-to-fifteen-year cycles in CWH forests. The looper is an important and beneficial member of the CWH ecosystem because the trees it defoliates often become wildlife snags—<a href="https://www.unbc.ca/sites/default/files/sections/continuing-studies/parks-wildlife-hazard-tree-assessor-course-workbook-dec2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dead trees which are uniquely capable of providing</a> habitat for a multitude of bird species and insects.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Several City of Vancouver employees became concerned that the abundance of snags might represent a wildfire risk and a public safety danger to users of roads and trails in the park. They contracted to conduct a risk assessment, which the <a href="https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/stanley-park-hemlock-looper-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">contractor performed in spring of 2023</a>. Unfortunately, the risk assessment contract provided for the possibility that the assessor would later become the general contractor for tree removals.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This risk assessment contract therefore seeded a <strong>conflict of interest</strong>, in that the risk assessor stood to profit in proportion to the level of risk it assessed. Conflict of interest does not necessarily lead to bias. However, there are reasons to believe that the forestry contractor’s assessment was indeed biased.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>First, the contractor’s assessment used faulty methodology to model fire growth in Stanley Park, should there be an ignition. The software used contained no fuel model for a coastal western hemlock forest, so the contractor substituted another fuel model. One of the fire modeling software's authors informed the City that the results were unreliable and that the danger was grossly overstated.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Second, the contractor ignored the existence of more that seventy water hydrants distributed throughout Stanley Park.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Third, the forestry contractor assumed twelve hours of no fire suppression—an unlikely scenario in a closely-monitored park with a nearby fire house.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Fourth, with respect to public danger, the assessment failed to conform to the <a href="https://www.worksafebc.com/en/law-policy/occupational-health-safety/searchable-ohs-regulation/ohs-guidelines/guidelines-part-26#SectionNumber:G26.11" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WorkSafeBC regulation and guidelines</a> which are specifically designed to assess tree risk in a park and recreation area. The guidelines state that only a person who has completed the Wildlife Dangerous Tree Assessor's Course, administered by the Wildlife Tree Committee (WTC), can complete a risk assessment and make recommendations for managing dangerous trees.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>However, in the forestry contractor's assessment, no mention is made of the Wildlife Dangerous Tree Assessor's Course nor is there any representation made that any crew member had completed the Wildlife Dangerous Tree Assessor's Course.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>A respected Vancouver tree risk assessor <a href="https://vimeo.com/1081903194" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studied trees marked for removal</a> in Stanley Park, and found that almost all were <strong>not dangerous</strong>. Most of them were subsequently felled.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The City was informed multiple times by <a href="https://savestanleypark.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanley Park Preservation Society</a> and <a href="https://savestanleypark.ca/DellaSalaReport" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple scientists</a> , who reviewed the forestry contractor’s assessment and performed independent assessments of Stanley Park, that the contractor’s report contained multiple flaws and that the snags in Stanley Park did not represent a significant danger. Despite this, the City failed to commission even one peer review of the contractor’s findings. Rather, the city stated simply that it <strong>trusted its contractor</strong>.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><a href="https://savestanleypark.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanley Park Preservation Society</a> appealed to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, which has the power to approve or deny outsourced contracts. However, the Park Board rubber stamped the logging contracts on the grounds that it relied upon City employees.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This chain of events resembles a <strong>house of cards</strong>. A natural looper feeding cycle leads to panic amongst poorly informed city officials who then hire a forestry company to assess danger, the contractor declares danger, City staff rely upon the contractor, then the same contractor lands multi-million-dollar contracts to mitigate the “danger.” Finally, the Park Board, relying upon City staff, rubber stamps the logging contracts. An understanding that the looper cycle was natural and that the panicked assessment was flawed would cause the entire house of cards to fall, and Stanley Park would not now suffer from decimation for no legitimate reason.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>For the above reasons, <a href="https://savestanleypark.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanley Park Preservation Society</a> sued the City of Vancouver and the park Board to nullify the logging contracts in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Arguments were heard in early November, 2025. A decision is impending.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Meanwhile, we have accrued tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills. Several of our members face depletion of their life savings. We are asking for your generous assistance in helping pay our lawyers, and in making an appeal possible, if necessary.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Even if we win this battle, the war will not be over. <a href="https://savestanleypark.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stanley Park Preservation Society</a> intends to remain a watchdog over the Gem of Vancouver—Stanley Park.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Please consider a donation of whatever you can afford to help this cause.</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Assertions and characterizations made in this document are the opinions of the authors.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div class="youtube-replace"><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div>

Vancouver's Iconic Stanley Park is Being Logged

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Enter your donation forVancouver's Iconic Stanley Park is Being Logged