On This Day in History: Green Timbers Forest
byVolunteers planted over 120 trees in Surrey’s Green Timbers March 15th, 1930. According to VancouverHistory, this was BC’s first “forest plantation” and now this 400 hectare park is an urban refuge:
Green Timbers Urban Forest in Surrey is unique: it consists mainly of trees planted from seedlings in the first attempt at reforestation in British Columbia. It sits on a square mile of forest astride the Fraser Highway.
Stand by that highway and look east, and you’re directly facing Mount Baker. This highway was originally the Yale Wagon Road to the interior, built by the Royal Engineers in 1875. In 1923 it was renamed the Pacific Highway when Surrey was linked by road to Blaine in Washington State.
Nowadays, it is the largest park in Surrey and has a network of trails, a lake, and a series of ecology tours and events hosted by the Green Timbers Heritage Society.
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This is a pretty amazing park, you enter it and you don’t realise you are only a few blocks from King George Boulevard one way and Guildford the other. I visited it last year in the spring and hope to get over there again some time. We barely scratched the surface of the place last time.
Wow, this really made my day. It’s nice to know we can rebuild, and how special something can become years later. I’ve never been there, but I will have to make a point to go. I really enjoy these “On This Day in History” posts. Thanks!