As you can see from the photo above, all is not doom and gloom in Stanley Park. This is Beaver Lake on a warm June day, just a few days ago.
However . . .
In its January, 2024 report entitled Stanley Park Hemlock Looper Impact and Wildfire Risk Assessment, B.A. Blackwell & Associates Ltd., the forestry firm who was relied upon by the City of Vancouver to make recommendations—and then was given the contract for the logging it recommended—admits that it is cutting down trees which are not a fire risk.
Large trees are defined as those with a diameter greater than 20 cm (p.7-8). Then, Blackwell states: "Large diameter trees are only considered a wildfire threat when they are mixed with fine fuels (<12.5 cm), as the fine fuels provides the ignition source and has the ability to preheat the large pieces of debris" (p.24). If true, then, this might be justification for removel of small trees less than 12 cm—but not large ones.
But Blackwell states that 20,000 large trees will be cut down (p. 13). Logically, them Blackwell must be inferring that there are 20,000 large trees which, although not representing a fire danger, pose some other danger—such as an imminent risk of falling onto people or other vulnerable targets—and should be cut down for that reason.
This is completely implausible. One certified arborist with whom we consulted stated that there may be a total of twenty (20) large trees in imminent danger of falling on roads or paths.
Therefore, it seems that Blackwell, within its report, undercuts its own recommendation to log out 20,000 large trees from Stanley Park.