Park board issues 'log update,' says some beach logs returning this weekend

Vancouver beaches will soon have more logs.

So says the city's park board in a tweet described as a "log update" on Friday.

"More logs will roll onto beaches in the coming weeks including at English Bay this weekend in anticipation of #CelebrationofLight," the tweet reads.

"As this work is underway, we'll continue to consult with communities and residents to ensure the beaches are safe and accessible for all."

The logs on Vancouver beaches were installed in the 1960s by world-renowned landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander, who died last year at the age of 99.

In the more than 50 years since that time, they've become more than a place to sit for a day at the beach, growing into a well-known symbol of the city.

In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, most of the logs were removed to encourage physical distancing.

The park board soon found that wasn't the only benefit to removing them.

“There was less garbage, less debris,” said Amit Gandha, director of parks for the Vancouver Park Board, in an interview with CTV News last week.

He added dangerous items like needles or broken glass would sometimes get tucked under the logs, and they also made it more difficult for larger beach-cleaning machines to sweep the sand.

“If you can imagine, we have a loader, a big machine that has to move every log, and a screener needs to run through there to clean and sift the sand and every log needs to be put back,” said Gandha.

Given the benefits of having fewer logs on the beach, park board staff have been debating how many logs should be put back.

That debate has made headlines across the country and even abroad, with some Vancouverites calling for the return of the full complement of logs. 

When he spoke to CTV News last week, Gandha said he didn't think that would happen.

“We are still going to have logs on the beaches, we just need to figure out what that number looks like,” said Gandha. “I don’t see it ending up like it was pre-pandemic, but I see a balance between what it looks like now and that point in time.”

CTV News has reached out to the park board for clarification on how many logs will be returned to beaches this weekend, and whether they will remain there permanently. This story will be updated if a response is received.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Shannon Paterson