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Habitat Island a no go, for now

Public asked to stay off until rotting pole can be removed
habitat island
Vancouver Park Board is asking the public to stay off Habitat Island for the time being until a rotting wildlife pole, that is currently home to a pair of nesting Northern Flicker woodpeckers, can be removed. Photo Dan Toulgoet

Vancouver Park Board is asking people to stay off Habitat Island for the time being.

Park operations manager Yann Gagnon made the call to close the island this week after staff discovered that one of the wildlife poles is in an “advanced state of decay.”

“There are a few cracks there and it was assessed at a very high likelihood of failure,” he told the Courier. “To protect my staff and the public I made the decision to close the island until we’ve abated the risk.”

When the island was originally constructed in 2009 in False Creek off Olympic Village, three wildlife poles were installed. The poles are essentially tree trunks that were dug into the ground to act as habitat for wildlife. Gagnon said staff will eventually remove the pole and reopen the island to the public. However it is currently home to a pair of nesting Northern Flicker woodpeckers.

He said the park board will monitor the birds but will not remove the pole until the nest is empty, or the birds move on.

 

“The bird biology is kind of unpredictable,” he said. “A lot of species of bird can make a nest and abandon it for another better nest, so for now we’re just not taking the chance. The poles were installed as habitat nesting poles and they are used as such so it would be somewhat ironic to remove them while they’re nesting in it.”

 

He added that a park board biologist is keeping an eye on the birds.

“We observed them yesterday and they looked happy, so we’re going to be waiting until this is done.”

@JessicaEKerr