Langley City will remove at least 100 trees from Hunter Park, at 199th Street and 45A Avenue, to stop the spread of laminated root rot.
The disease, also known as yellow ring rot, affects conifers. The park’s fir and hemlock are affected.
“While it is unknown when the disease impacted these trees, the City is proactively minimizing the risk by clearing away the susceptible trees to ensure the safety of the residents and users of the park,” said Rick Bomhof, director of Engineering, Parks, and Environment.
It is one of the leading causes of dead and wind thrown trees since trees die from failure to take up water and nutrients due to primary root decay. The fungal disease spreads from root to root contact and can remain viable for up to 50 years.
“The age of the trees varies between five and 75 years old,” he said.
Property owners near the pocket park in south Langley City have been notified. Forestry experts recommend removing trees with a 15-metre radius of an infected tree to reduce the spread.
The City will look at trees within the road right of ways in the area of Hunter Park to see the extent of the infection. If more diseased trees are found, they will be removed.
Removals within Hunter Park will start as soon as possible. The plan is to have the removals completed before the end of November. The City will redevelop the park after the tree removal.
“We will use the timber for City projects and whatever we can’t use will be sold,” Bomhof said. “We will be in a better position to decide the end use once we know how many salvageable logs there are.”