Ž•†††
ˆŽ••‡••
Redwood Park in Surrey, BC is reputed to have the largest stand of red-
woods north of California, along with a collection of notable evergreens
and other species from around the globe. How did this come to be?
Surrey homesteader and eventual postmaster and provincial Justice of the
Peace David Brown had deaf twin sons, David and Peter. When they turned
21, David Brown gave them each 16 ha (40 ac) of land, on which the younger
Browns promptly planted redwood seeds they had collected in California.
David and Peter lived on the property all their lives, eventually building
and living in a tree house on stilts. The original tree house burned down
but it has been reconstructed and contributes to the immense appeal
of this natural attraction in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
For reasons of Brown Family history; tree and canopy density, matu-
rity, and diversity; a biodiverse understory of herbaceous species;
and striking views from its hilltop position, Redwood Park has been
listed since 2005 on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
< Painting of one his
neighborhood's giant
sequoias by Vallejo, California
artist Gary Stutler (garystutler.
com). Gary says, "I have often
admired many of Vallejo's
trees but have never before
drawn such a singularly
tree-honoring image ... The
fusion/confrontation between
the human-made and the
organic, the private and the
public, is the ultimate concern
of my art. These urban
trees exert a connective
force on these complexities
and have provided a
strikingly suitable task."
^ Recreated treehouse of
Peter and David Brown, who
lived in Redwood Park (Surrey,
British Columbia, Canada)
from 1893 until 1958. Photo
by Illustratedjc, CC BY-SA 4.0
via Wikimedia Commons
urban-forestry.com 39
