I’ve been watching the progress of Stanley Park since the ‘great storm’ of December 2006. From walking through the ravaged park the following day while video podcasting, to updating readers of progress [December][January][March][April][September]. The developments have been slow-moving and somewhat upsetting.

Tiny part of the Sea Wall that’s STILL not repaired more than half a year later.

Matt recently flew over the park and got an aerial view which was just as disturbing. Earlier this week, I saw a glimmer of hope while reading a few articles last week.

It’s been a slow six months of painstaking tree-by-tree removal, but Stanley Park is finally ready for some new trees. After months of clearing the debris left by last December’s vicious windstorms, the park will be ready for tree-planting in 10 days — although it’s likely crews will wait until the rain starts. [The Province, Sept. 13, 2007]

Fantastic. I continued my morning reads and found that CKNW was even more optimistic about the new trees going into the park.

A massive tree planting effort will be getting underway within a week at Stanley Park to replace the approximately 10-thousand trees which were knocked-down by last December’s wicked windstorm. Some 19-thousand saplings from local nurseries will be planted by volunteers. [CKNW, Sept 17, 2007]

Curious about the planting efforts, I looked around online and found a link to “volunteer” on the Stanley Park website. This then lead me to the Stanley Park Ecological Society where I inquired about being a tree planter, finding homes for the 19-thousand saplings mentioned above. I received an email back from the society stating that the CKNW article was wrong and there are no concrete plans right now to do any planting.

It’s pretty heartbreaking. I’m not blaming the Ecological society at all, it just seems like the media is trying to paint a much prettier and progressive picture of the park’s restoration efforts (and getting my hopes up in the process). Over at the Eco Society’s site they actually are making headway, according to their News Blog.

We have UBC researchers in the park that are trapping beetles to see what species are living here and what species may be arriving as our fallen trees begin to decay and send off appetizing odors. There are consultants exploring the park to locate our previously known archaeological sites and to confirm their status after the storm. They are also looking for new archaeological sites that may have been exposed by falling trees and their upturned rootwards.

To avoid being mislead by local mainstream media reports, stay tuned to the Stanley Park Ecological Society’s site. They post about news and their upcoming events, the next one will be their monthly “Ivy Busters” walk. I think they’re going to be my most trusted source for park restoration efforts going forward.