A Vancouver Park Board proposal to improve the view from the peak of Queen Elizabeth Park by logging about 70 trees, is already being opposed by some local residents.
The residents are critical of a plan that would create two separate viewing corridors through the removal of trees on the escarpment that overlooks a duck pond on the north side of the park.
By removing lower limbs of Douglas Firs inside the park, the plan would open up a third corridor featuring partial views of the Strait of Georgia from above the Large Quarry Garden.
The Park Board hosted a public forum in Queen Elizabeth Park Wednesday night to give members of the public an opportunity to learn more about the proposal and express their views.
If plan is approved, the trees would be removed in early summer and chipped on site.
But some residents are already lining up against it.
"I don't want to see the trees go down because the views include the trees,'' said Teresa Waclawik, a Vancouver artist who lives in the Cambie Street area near the park.
"If people are upset about what mother nature did to Stanley Park they are going to be really upset about what the chain saws are going to do to Queen Elizabeth Park,'' she said
Waclawik said she is concerned that many people may not be aware of the plan to log the trees.
For its part, the Park Board says none of the trees to be removed are rare or endangered in the wild.
It also said a biologist will be retained to identify nesting trees. The removal of such trees, it said, would be delayed to minimize the impact on nesting animals.
Trees removed will be replaced on a two-for-one basis.
