Environment

Debate over fate of Vancouver's famous hollow tree

by Rachel Nixon | March 26, 2008 at 01:48 pm

887 views | 5 Recommendations | 4 comments

After withstanding lightning, storms and countless people posing inside it, it sounds like the famous hollow tree of Vancouver's Stanley Park may finally be for the chop.

The 2006 winter storms took a serious toll on the tree, whose future now looks precarious.

The venerable cedar has been dead for many years, but the hurricane-force winds finally caused the supporting root flairs to splinter, leaving the tree with a dangerous 11-degree tilt.

Staff have been buttressing the tree with cables, bolts and braces for 30 years as the trunk split vertically from age. The illusion of a green canopy is provided by three hemlocks that grow nearby. A report to the park board decribes an elaborate lattice of external steel bracing as the only way to counteract the effects of the lean and observes that the $200,000 system might not succeed.

Staff recommend taking the remains of the tree down for good. The tree has been the backdrop for untold numbers of photographs over the years, by both professional and amateur photographers. Staff believe the core of the tree was blown away by a lightning strike, but most older cedars are hollow at the core as they deteriorate.

The board will consider the problem Mar. 31.

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josephreidengst

at 14:52 on March 26th, 2008

Good times in Stanley Park on a rainy autumn day. I took this photo looking up into the tree and thought it turned out looking like a silver metallic man leaning back with arms outstreched in a majestic pose.

josephreidengst has contributed a photo to this story.

Barbara McPherson

at 15:16 on March 26th, 2008

Rachel Nixon, I like this story. It's good stuff. This is a case of "to everything there is a season." It would seem that the venerable old thing has to go.

Barbara McPherson

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:16 on March 26th, 2008

Rachel Nixon, I like this story. It's good stuff. This is a case of "to everything there is a season." It would seem that the venerable old thing has to go.

debohamilton

at 08:07 on March 28th, 2008

This tree is amazing. I love that it has been preserved and remembered and captured in countless photographs. However, it is becoming a bit Frankenstein-esque with the cables and all...
My experience with the tree was strictly sentimental. It is a good reminder to me of my friend's visit and our exploration of Stanley Park. We had to wait to take a photo because there were so many wanting to do the same.

debohamilton has contributed a photo to this story.