KPU’s Surrey campus sees removal of 35 trees

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Students who have wandered Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus over the past few months may have noticed the caution tape surrounding its forested areas. Over the semester break, tree removals took place as per recommendations from a 2019 arborist report by professional arborist company BC Plant Health Care.

Thirty-five trees were chopped down, however the report recommended 168 be removed. This decision was made by KPU’s Natural Spaces Advisory Committee after investigating which trees were actually hazardous to the university’s community members.

The Natural Spaces Advisory Committee was created as a result of a previous tree removal on the Surrey campus. Iain Hunter, who works in facilities at KPU and co-chairs the committee, says the KPU community wasn’t properly informed about the tree removals at the time, and as a result, there was concern and some uproar from faculty in academic areas.

Farhad Dastur, a psychology instructor at KPU and co-chair of the committee, was one of these concerned faculty members.

 “I love nature. I like to use those spaces. Sometimes I bring my students out into those spaces for a variety of reasons, sometimes just to switch things up and get them some fresh air and sunlight,” Dastur says.

 “It’s important to have access to greenspaces. It lowers blood pressure, anxiety, reduces your stress hormones, it helps you reset.”

Dastur was curious to know how many other instructors at KPU utilize the outdoor spaces. So, he sent out a survey, and from the results discovered these spaces were being used by a variety of disciplines ranging from fine arts to business. He then decided to take matters into his own hands and approached KPU’s Senate, which is the senior academic governing body at KPU, and put a motion on the floor.

“I said, ‘I’d like the Senate to recognize that Kwantlen’s nature spaces are legitimate places for learning and teaching, … I just want you to acknowledge that not only can we use these nature spaces as learning spaces, but that we’re already doing it.’”

The motion passed unanimously, and from there, he created a group made up of faculty, administrators, staff, and students who “believe in the power of nature-based education,” he says. And thus, the Natural Spaces Advisory Committee was born.

“It was important for us to have a committee that was committed and dedicated to the idea that KPU has these natural spaces that we can legitimately use to teach and to learn,” Dastur says. 

“It helps us … [think] about things and [answer] the community’s questions, so that we don’t feel misunderstood or attacked, and it allows various groups on the campus to [have a say].”

The committee went through and evaluated the 2019 arborist report which inventoried over 1,000 trees and broke down the Surrey campus in 29 zones. Iain Hunter says the committee, along with other insightful community members like Elder Lekeyten, walked through every zone and analyzed each flagged tree, assessing the actual danger it posed to pedestrian and car zones.

“We began to eliminate trees [from the removal list] that did not pose a risk to pedestrian or vehicle activity,” Hunter says.

 “We went through the back forest behind the Spruce [building] … that nobody can get into. There were a bunch of trees in there, and there was no need for us to remove those trees because there was no risk.”

According to the arborist report, many of the trees recommended for removal had very low soil volumes and lacked water, which Hunter says is partially due to climate change but also the institution’s landscaping.

“The campus was built in the early 90s. It was a different time [with] a different understanding of geology, biology, botany, and urban landscaping,” Hunter says.

“When you look in the parking lots, you have a tree species that was intended to be in massive growing areas along the boulevards with open planes. You see them buried in these tiny little pots inside, there’s no hope for them to survive. It was a bad idea and was the wrong planting.” 

Hunter says facilities intended to remove the trees in fall 2022, however the process was delayed to December 2023 due to drastic weather conditions and working around wildlife nesting seasons. They planned the recent removal around exam season to not disturb students with whirring chainsaws and other removal tools.

All the lumber from the chopped trees will be going to a project Elder Lekeyten is working on — a pit house.

“A lot of that timber was salvaged … and we looked at a strategy to preserve the length of timber that would be perfect for him for his needs for that big house,” Hunter says.

The timber is currently being held on the back parking lot behind the spruce building waiting to be relocated to the Kwantlen First Nation until weather permits, Hunter says.

As per City of Surrey bylaws, KPU has an obligation to replant 39 trees to replace the 35 that were removed, which Hunter says is important to revitalize and re-establish the natural environment. The new trees will be suited for our changing climate but also the campus’ landscaping to prevent future tree damage, he adds.

Another tree audit by BC Plant Health Care took place last fall which Hunter is still waiting to receive.

Aside from deciding on tree removals, the Natural Spaces Advisory Committee is continuing to strengthen the university’s natural, on-campus spaces. They recently proposed to create an outdoor classroom and have been working on the KPU2050 Campus Master Plan, which sets out recommendations for campus development, to make the outdoor campus more inviting for students by creating green corridors and spaces. 

Farhad hopes other KPU instructors feel inspired to find ways to incorporate natural spaces into their teachings, regardless of the subject.

“We [can] start thinking about those natural gifts in creative ways that might do more than just say, ‘This is a little green space,’ or ‘This is a little pond.’ There are opportunities to educate people.”