Stanley Park

[Daymo]

They opened up the park to traffic today and I had to drive around and see what it looked like after the wind storm. The media had reported about 3000 trees were lost, and I heard that 2 eagles nests had come down.
The damage is not too visible, except for a few piles of branches, until you get past Lumberman's Arch. Here you start to see trees broken and uprooted. Branches broken and scattered everywhere.
Once you get up to Prospect Point the devastation really is overwhelming Trees down everywhere by the thousands. It looks like a clear cut gone wrong. There are very few trees standing on the cliff side.
Driving all along past second beach was heartbreaking. The root ball on some of the trees were over 20 feet across and they are just laying there on the side of the road.
For a guy like me who grew up here and spent many hours in the park, it saddens you.

 

[KYG]

I'm just really amazed that the winds were that strong resulting in all those trees being blown down. Some of those trees were very large and thick.

 

[shapeshifter]

My uncle who has lived here for the last 50 years told me that about 40 yrs ago (he couldnt remember what year) there was a wind storm that did the same damage and went much further inland than this latest storm.

He lived in Surrey at the time and he has pictures of huge huge old growth trees uprooted laying every which way all over the roads, in one picture he parked beside the root balls of a couple of the trees that he could drive up to and the root balls dwarf his pick-up truck... they must be a good 20-30 feet across and the holes in the ground are the size of a couple large swimming pools.

It tore a lot of the siding off his house and most of the cedar shakes off his roof.

Any old timers here recall that storm?


It must be this one:

1. October 12, 1962 - The Columbus Day Wind Storm

* The mother of all wind storms this century, the wind storm all others are compared to

* Strongest widespread non-hurricane wind storm to strike the continental U.S. this century

* Struck from northern California to British Columbia

* Claimed 46 lives, blew down 15 billion, yes, 15 billion board feet of timber ($750 million worth - 1962)

* Total property damage in the region $235 million

* Recorded wind speeds (before power went out)

Naselle - Gust to 150 MPH Bellingham and Vancouver - Gust 92 MPH

Renton - Gust 100 MPH Morrison St Bridge - Gust 116 MPH

Tacoma - Gust 88 MPH Troutdale - Gust to 106 MPH

Mt Hebo - Gust to 131 MPH

 

[FuZzYknUckLeS]

Does this mean that they'll be able to expand the road to the bridge now?
I seem to recall it having been stalled over having to cut down a whole 12 trees...

Yeah. Fuck. And while they're at it, maybe get Concorde to throw up 2 or 3 new condos in the worst hit areas.

It is a sad thing that has happened to our park. Almost as sad as the day they implemented park-wide pay parking. Nature will heal itself from this event though.

 

[sushiman]

Any old timers here recall that storm?

It must be this one:

1. October 12, 1962 - The Columbus Day Wind Storm

Otherwise known as Typhoon Freida (sp).

I remember helping a friend re-shingle his mom's house after that big wind.

sushi

 

[shapeshifter]

Otherwise known as Typhoon Freida (sp).

I remember helping a friend re-shingle his mom's house after that big wind.

sushi

Thanks Sushi, that would be the one.

I searched that name online and found this interesting blurb about the effect Typhoon Frieda had on Stanley Park

The Park Board's head of horticulture at the time, William Livingstone, recalled that Stanley Park was devastated by the storm which packed winds up to 129 miles per hour. In all, over 3000 trees, many mature specimens, were lost in the park along with hundreds more on Vancouver's tree-lined streets. Park trails once used as early skid roads when the area was logged in the mid to late 1880s, were once again employed to remove the downed woody sentinels. Leaving the logs fallen in the park was not an option as their mere mass and number would have prevented access to many areas while causing a potential fire hazard.

It took the better part of a year to remove the trees which, because of their good condition, were sold to lumber companies. Not all was lost as clever Park Commissioners and staff were presented with newly cleared areas in their sacred Stanley Park, sites which could now be used for recreational activities.

The year following the storm, the new Stanley Park Miniature Railway, whose engine was a replica of CPR's #374 that pulled Canada's first continental passenger train into Vancouver, was officially opened proving that even Hurricane Frieda's horror had a silver lining, especially for the city's children.

 

[slacker]

Yeah. Fuck. And while they're at it, maybe get Concorde to throw up 2 or 3 new condos in the worst hit areas.

It is a sad thing that has happened to our park. Almost as sad as the day they implemented park-wide pay parking. Nature will heal itself from this event though.

I too find the pay parking sadder than the loss of the trees. Nothing worse than getting nickel and dimed just trying to enjoy nature.

Trees, wind, it's all nature. Nature is shaping the park for you. What do you want, a park, or a cultivated garden? Trees do drop seeds which turn into more trees. Amazing isn't it?

Mind you I haven't even seen a picture of what happened to the park. But last thing I want to see is them trying to clear out every felled tree and replacing it on some insane time table to appease the olympic visitors. I really can't beleive they had a telethon for the park. They should just take their time, fixing the most important parts first. 100 years from now you wouldn't be able to tell if man had intervened to fix it or if you had just let mother nature run its course. For that matter the trees being lost are probably the most susceptible to wind (prospect point) so perhaps mother nature is saying only the hardiest trees should survive there.

Now if you want some real tragedy of nature just look at all the clear cutting going on. I'm not total tree hugger but holy crap take a drive on some parts of the island and it's just devastatingly ugly.

 

[Cock Throppled]

So - some trees blew down. Get over it Vancouver - it's called Mother Nature. Trees blew down before and they'll blow down again. Best thing about trees is they grow back.Enjoy the view until they do.

 

[OTBn]

and take advantage of the fact by expanding the darn road now that you don't have to cut down any trees to do it!!

uhhh, chunnel, chunnel, chunnel

 

[shapeshifter]

JJ theres is method to that madness

I lived in Whiterock for a couple years and the gym I attended was the same situation, very little parking that everyone jostled to get, meanwhile there was a large parking lot with tons of space about a block away.

I would check out the gym lot on the off chance of getting a spot but if nothing was available I'd go park up the street and walk back.

After working out there for a couple weeks I got to know a few guys and found out the real reason they wanted a spot in the gym parking lot... they got to know the times that the hottest gym bunnies worked out and would time their workouts to arrive and leave at corresponding times,,, that way the chick got to see their "BMW" , H3, Benz or whatever.
A lot of those guys did very well for themselves using their car as bait at a place where hot, fit chicks were the rule instead of the exception.

 

[Smother]

At the end of the Storm they were reviewing what happened and they said that it could take up to 1 year to clean up.
You know what I'm pissed about.....How many of those massive tree's that Stanley park is know for are destroyed..

You can't replace those man.....Not in our time anyway..

 

[Smother]

Good point jj . I never looked at it that way before!

The burning theory actually destroys all bad stuff and rejuvinates into good stuff!