Park Board Participates in
Car Free Day Festival

September 19, 2005 - On Thursday, September 22, 2005, Vancouver will join 1,500 other cities and 100 million people worldwide in celebration of Car Free Day. Look for the Park Board's Street Tree exhibit at the City's very first "Car Free Day" festival. Carrall and Water Streets in Gastown will be closed for this one day event, which will be held between noon and 8 pm.

The Gastown area will be turned into a traffic-free streetscape with music, performances and displays that celebrate the healthy and affordable ways people in our community can move around, as well as featuring other sustainable initiatives that keep our city beautiful and liveable.

Car Free Day is one of the sustainability initiatives undertaken by the City of Vancouver (City News Release) to protect and enhance the immediate and long term well-being of its residents. It is presented in partnership with the Gastown Business Improvement Society and BEST (Better Environmentally Sound Transportation).

Park Board staff will be on hand at the Street Tree exhibit to answer any questions you may have. Find out about the trees that grow on our streets; how and why all trees are inspected and pruned on a regular basis; what species of trees are best suited as street trees; how pests and disease are managed through sustainable methods; how and where we grow the more than 3,700 new trees added each year to our boulevards and the sustainable benefits that these trees provide for you, your neighbourhood and your city.

Street trees play an important part in keeping our cities environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Recognizing the need to increase the trees on our streets, fifteen years ago the Park Board adopted a long term plan to plant more trees on our streets, improve management techniques and increase species diversity. There are currently more than 130,000 trees planted on our boulevards.

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