Central Park (Burnaby)

The City of Burnaby recommends several circuitous routes. The 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) Terry Fox Trail circles around the upper pond and just reaches the lower pond. Visitors often use this trail for physical activity purposes and is annually used for the Terry Fox Run for the City of Burnaby.[4] The 2.6-kilometre (1.6 mi) Trail of Hope also circles around the upper pond and reaches the lower pond while a 1.9 kilometer trail circles a portion of the parkland.[5]

Whitecaps playing in Swangard Stadium in Central Park

Swangard Stadium, former home of the Vancouver Whitecaps, and erected in 1961, is located at the north-west corner of the park. It regularly holds soccer and rugby games, alternative sporting events, concerts, and a variety of community events. The stadium is available for rental.[6]

The outdoor pool is on the west side of the park, and the fitness circuit and tennis courts are located to the south east side. The baseball diamond and lawn bowling facility sit on the north-east side, while the pitch and putt [7] and golf course are sits on the south-east side. The horseshoe pitch, playground, and bowling green are on the north-east side of the park. Moving down to the south east side is a golf course and two tennis courts. On the west side of the park there is an expansive picnic area.

The Earl and Jennie Lohn Perennial Garden, located on the north-east side of the park, is popular location of botanical interest. The Variety Park playground is a popular destination for families.

A variety of birds live in the park, attracted by the habitat and berry-producing shrubs. These include downy woodpeckers, towhees, American robins, sparrows, finches and crows. The park is home to Douglas squirrels and northern coyotes.[8]

Both lakes provide habitat for Canada geese, mallards, and other waterfowl. The upper lake is home to crawfish and minnows. The lower lake has schools of brown bullhead, a fish in the catfish order, which can sometimes be viewed from the bridge by the golf shop.

Invasive species in Central Park tend to be larger, more hardy and more aggressive in general than native species. On top of that, most of these invasive species do not have predators to keep their population down, which gives these species higher fitness than native species. Some common invasive animals include Eastern gray squirrel, American bull frog, European chafer beetle and European fire ants.[9]

In early 2012 a blotched snakehead was seen in YouTube videos of Central Park's lagoon. Because of the invasive and aggressive nature of the snakehead, scientists were called in, the lagoon was drained, and the fish was captured. There is no evidence it reproduced or spread its range, and so the snakehead had not spread to British Columbia.[10]

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  An invasive Eastern gray squirrel in Burnaby's Central Park.
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  An invasive snakehead fish

This second growth forest is dominated by Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar. Vine maple, spruce, birch and elderberry are present, and each have a significant share of the tree overstory. Salmonberry, thimbleberry, huckleberry and trailing blackberry provide edible fruit for humans and animals, and together with hollyhock make up the shrub understory. Sword and bracken ferns are also abundant. The native vine orange honeysuckle can be found growing up tree trunks near Swangard Stadium.

Burnaby Central Park has a few invasive plant species that the city is working to remove. These plans were implemented in 2011 along the 2.5 kilometer trail as known as Trail of Hope and is primarily run by volunteers even to this day. Some of these invasive plant species that populate Central Park are English holly, English ivy, Butterfly-bush, Japanese knotweed, Policeman's helmet, and Periwinkle.[11]

Community organizations are part of an ongoing effort to reduce and eliminate invasive plant species. The Invasive Species Counsel of British Columbia has non-profit status, and spreads public awareness in addition to dealing with invasive plants directly.[12][13]