A scrubby field east of the Salmon River near Fort Langley has been slowly transformed in recent years by a tree-planting project that is intended as a decades-long legacy for the community.
Former Langley Township mayor Kurt Alberts has organized three sessions of planting for Memory Grove, and is contemplating more in the coming years.
The trees are a mixture of species, including red oaks, Garry oaks, Nootka cypresses, maples, black pines, and more. Half of each planting is deciduous, half coniferous.
"There was a time when I ran ever single morning through here, when there were no trees!" said Alberts.
The land was originally part of the big Interfor sawmill property that ran along the waterfront from Glover Road westward for a considerable distance.
The mill didn't take up all of the site, and the area on the west side was leased out for years to farmers for haying and corn fields.
After the mill shut down, the site was developed into condos and houses as Bedford Landing. But the development didn't extend as far as the nearby floodplains close to the winding Salmon River.
"What was left what was approximately 40 acres," said Alberts. The remainder of the site was left as a natural area, with walking paths leading to the Fort-to-Fort Trail along the Fraser River.
Although it was left to nature, what grew there was mostly grass, weeds, and invasive blackberries.
The three Memory Groves planted so far, starting in 2018 and with another in 2021 and then in 2023, have added shade and a variety of types of trees to the area.
The trees include Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, Nootka cypress, black pine, Garry oak, and red oak.
There is an even mix of deciduous and coniferous trees in each of the three 30-tree groves.
Each grove costs $60,000 with money coming from local businesses and individuals, as well as some grants from Langley Township provided via developers who have to pay for extra off-site tree replacement.
Alberts noted that the size of the trees is one reason each grove costs what it does.
"They're not little trees, they're big trees," he said.
A few trees have died and been replaced by hardier varieties after their planting.
"You feel somewhat responsible when you've had other people put up the money for the tree," Alberts noted.
The grove is intended as a living legacy, and was inspired by previous tree plantings around Langley that go back a century or more.
Dr. Benjamin Marr, one of the community's first doctors, planted the horse chestnuts and western red cedars that still line Glover Road near the Fort Langley Cemetery.
Like Marr's trees, Alberts hopes the Memory Groves will be here for up to a century.
The trees are good sized right now, but it will take many of them decades to reach their full size.
"It'll be pretty amazing," Alberts said.
With three groves completed, he's currently working on plans for a couple more in the nearby vicinity. If they go forward, that would bring the total number of trees planted in the area to about 150.
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