Hollow Tree in B.C Stanley Park to be Cut Down

There is controversy over whether or not to cut down a hollow tree in B.C. Stanley Park which after the massive storm in 2006 had become a hazard.

This tree has become a tourist attraction for Stanley Park where people stand inside and take pictures, I actually have a picture of myself in it when I visited B.C. last summer (glad i have it now). This tree has been a natural monument since 1880, when it was first photographed; it is thought that it got its distinctive look after a lightning bolt hit it.

Many people do not want the tree to be cut down because the history and attachment that they feel towards the tree. Many have pictures of themselves, parents, and grandparents, of people who are gone; the tree has become a symbol of family, of people’s history. Many of those who have this attachment either want the tree not to be cut down, or if it must be removed then parts of the tree to be saved and made into a monument, to have pieces of its history.

Others argue that the tree should be able to decompose in its natural way, meaning that it should be left, and not cut down, but also not preserved. The problem with this, which I believe would be most appropriate, is that it still is a hazard to the inhabitants of the park. The reality is that we have made this tree unnatural; we have made it a tourist attraction.

Maybe we are so reluctant to remove the tree because we have grown an attachment to it with our continuous pictures through the generations. Could it be that we are trying to hang on to a dead tree because it represents the nature that use to be, that the hollowness allowed us to feel one with nature in an era when we are extremely separated from nature due to living in a society of mass production and consumption?

Laura Hammond