Port Coquitlam’s story started with trees.
On April 13, 1913, the city’s first mayor, James Mars, joined council and their 1,300 constituents to parade to Aggie Park to plant four trees to commemorate its incorporation a month prior, on March 7.
At that ceremony, Mayor Mars gave each child enrolled at Junction School a silver medallion, of which two are now on display — along with photos from the inaugural event — at the Port Coquitlam Heritage and Cultural Society museum as part of a five-month show called The Secret Life of Trees.
The show, which officially opens at The Outlet on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Carol Hubbard Memorial Natural History Exhibit series, is the society’s first partnership with PoCo Heritage Trees, a group founded last year to build awareness about the importance of urban trees in PoCo.
And stepping into their newly created space is a pleasure for the senses, bringing the city’s forested environment inside.
Visually, they demonstrate how trees benefit our daily lives from products (food, medicine, books) to seed dispersal through critters and the wind. In one case, they’ve turned a cedar tree stump upside down to display its intricate root network; in another case, there’s an exhibit showing how salmon carcasses fertilize the forest floor, thus regenerating Mother Earth.
For multi-media, Patrick McCarthy of Tri-Cities Community TV looped tree scenes for a 30-minute film while there’s also a video quiz to test guests’ knowledge of famous PoCo trees (i.e., where is PoCo’s oldest apple tree?).
But it’s the giant paper tree that’s the show stopper.
Crafted by the Friends of Leigh Square Society and Katie Furness-Moore, its deciduous leaves will change colours this fall with the help of students.
As for sounds, “fauna music” is piped in through the speakers and, for scent, the aromas from living moss, grass and branches take over.
Participants can also touch a section of a cedar tree to count the rings and guess its age. And children will also be invited to go on a scavenger hunt to search for bugs and butterflies around the museum.
Nancy Furness, spokesperson for PoCo Heritage Trees, said the group’s been waiting for the chance to work with the museum to pair its mandate with the city’s natural history elements. “I think they meld together really well,” she said.
Museum co-ordinator Kelly Brown, whose exhibit proposal was approved in April, also said she’s thrilled with the results and looks forward to hosting school tours.
Still, there’s more.
To get outside and show the tree connection first hand, the groups have organized several gatherings for the public:
• yoga in Elks Park with Hyde Creek recreation centre staff (Aug. 16 and 29 at 7 p.m., and Sept. 15 at 11 a.m.);
• and a walking tree tour (Aug. 25 at 2:30 p.m., Sept. 8 and 22 at 2:30 p.m., Sept. 30 at 1 p.m., and Oct. 6 and 20 at 2:30 p.m.).
Funding for The Secret Life of Trees comes from the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program via BC Hydro, the city of PoCo and Telus.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
