From Dewilding to Rewilding Vancouver
Vancouver is urbanizing at such a rapid rate that it is hard to imagine what it used to look like 150 years ago.
The city used to have an abundance of salmon swimming in streams that have mostly gone extinct, grey and humpback whales used to live in our ocean, grizzly bears used to roam our forest. However, many of our wild species have disappeared or gone extinct as humans continue to build and develop on lands that were once the habitat of these species. In our present day society, surrounded and enclosed by our human-made environment, it’s so easy to become disconnected with our natural environment. It’s hard to imagine what Vancouver was once like as we continue to develop buildings that result in many streams being buried and dramatically changing our natural world. Nonetheless, in the midst of “dewilding”, Vancouver is pushing to “rewild” its city again by intertwining nature and our built environment together.
The Vancouver Park Board has been working to “rewild” Vancouver through the “Rewilding Vancouver: From Sustaining to Flourishing” action plan. Not only does this plan encourage Vancouverites to connect themselves back to the natural world in their daily life, it also is essential that we have full access to nature because the natural world is important to our physical and mental well-being. Residents should be able to witness streams teeming with salmon, whales swimming in the harbour, and eagles flying above. As humans who depend on much of our natural resources, we must take good care of our natural world. J.B. Mackinnon, author of The Once and Future World, says that “this city can do more than offer more access to nature; it can also give nature more access to the city. This is the right place; this is the right time. By rewilding Vancouver, we will create a city that is not only more resilient, but also more exciting, more fascinating, more magical to live in—wilder in every sense of the word.”