🌳Witness Trees

What are witness trees? 

During the Biddlewood Park Ivy Pull on October 8th, 2022 , the Witness Tree Program of Vancouver planted 22 new trees in Biddlewood.  The Witness Tree Program allows residents to memorialize a loved one while enhancing the urban forest.  Trees include Incense Cedar, Purple Catalpa, Sequoia and others.  Jessica George, the Urban Forestry Outreach Coordinator for the city of Vancouver, explained the rationale for the additions:

We are excited to be able to add 22 new trees to the park that will support wildlife and increase the ecosystem benefits that trees provide to us all.  During tree selection, our primary goal is right tree, right place to ensure the trees are healthy and long-lived. We then looked at year-round interest (for people and animals) such as flowers, leaf structure, and bark. When selecting trees, we take into account the space they will hold at maturity. The two sequoias will (one day) become giants in their own right, that is why we chose to locate them in an open area to accommodate for their size at maturity.