Environment
Holly Hunters
By Anne Casselman published Sep 1, 2008
Oh, here’s another nasty,” says Denis Underhill, 84, hacking away with his mattock, a WWII infantry trenching tool. He brandishes a spear of Japanese knotweed—not his main foe here in Pacific Spirit Regional Park (that honour goes to English holly), but he can’t resist the opportunity to kill it. Knotweed is a non-native plant, and leaving it to propagate will only lead to more problems for indigenous species.
On this sunny day in mid May, the foliage that flanks the bike path along West 16th Avenue is in a period of accelerated growth. To a passerby, the sylvan landscape may appear verdant and healthy. Not so to Underhill and his work partner, Ed Chessor, 63. Together, they’re the Holly Haulers, a subfaction of the park’s Invasive Species Working Group. “I have nothing against holly,” explains elfin Point Grey resident Underhill. Chessor, a long-time Dunbar inhabitant, adds: “In England, it’s a wonderful plant.” But this isn’t England, and in this forest holly has the potential to overwhelm other species.
The two men met when Underhill brought the results of an informal experiment to the Pacific Spirit Park Society, headed at the time by UBC mechanical engineer Chessor. Underhill, who’s been coming to the park since he moved to the West Side in 1928, had undertaken an experiment with his daughter, Margaret, after his wife died. “I had to do something, so I walked every trail in the park, made notes of every invasive.” Survey in hand, Denis and Margaret chose a test plot, removed all the foreign species, and kept an eye on the land; after two seasons, it was still mainly invasive-free. With those results in hand, Underhill approached the PSPS with a proposal to launch something a little more robust, and the Holly Haulers were born.
If Stanley Park is the heart of the city, then Pacific Spirit Park might be its soul. At 784 hectares it’s nearly twice the size of Stanley Park, and it encloses a native forest composed mainly of Douglas fir, western red cedar, and hemlock. It’s also home to coyotes, pileated woodpeckers, barred owls, ravens, hawks, eagles, and a colony of great blue herons.
