Victoria should make restoration of Beacon Hill Park’s notorious southeast woods a priority in the wake of a recent stabbing in the area, says Coun. Shellie Gudgeon.
Victoria police issued a warning for people who use Beacon Hill Park at night to be cautious after a 49-year-old man was attacked and stabbed near the off-leash dog area Jan. 11.
The victim was standing by a public shelter near the waterfront trail on Dallas Road about midnight when he was attacked by a stranger in what police say was an unprovoked attack. He was stabbed multiple times and suffered serious injuries.
“I think, like any area, we need to encourage everyone in our community to use our natural areas. That creates safety for everyone,” Gudgeon said.
“When they are not well used, they become magnets for, perhaps, nefarious behaviour. … So as we walk through the neighbourhood and make it more animated with people and life in the park, it reduces the amount of nefarious behaviour taking place.”
The assault occurred near the park’s southeast woods — long known as a gay cruising area. A local gay homestay website even promoted it as an “excellent cruising” spot.
Gudgeon said she had no idea of the area’s notoriety until the recent attack but stressed: “This is not a gay issue. This is about safety in parks.”
Police also say they have no evidence that would suggest the assault was a hate crime.
Gudgeon has forwarded to fellow councillors a report prepared by a retired parks environmental technician that says not only does the illicit use of the woods create an unsavoury environment for the average park user, but the warren of informal paths cut into the bush is having severe negative environmental and social impacts.
“The amount of refuse, including a great deal of human waste, used prophylactics and drug paraphernalia, removed from the park on a daily basis is phenomenal,” the report says.
“The amount that remains is disgusting, repugnant and a health threat. Most parks staff are reluctant to enter these areas and are discouraged by the lack of positive results from repeatedly clearing the same areas day after day.”
The report says the woods and willow groves along Dallas Road are remnants of natural wetlands and support wetland vegetation found almost nowhere else in the city.
“With continual illicit use, new trails and clearings are cut into once-pristine sections and, once they are established, no amount of restoration without formal barriers can stop the general public from tracking in and compounding the problem,” the report says.
“Many of the wetland and moist woodland wildflowers that once filled these spaces are gone. Others, such as the trilliums, fairybells and twisted stalks, are there in limited numbers in limited spaces where the Friends of Beacon Hill Park and others have made restoration efforts. The health, variety and number of shrubs is also diminishing rapidly.”
The report notes that the draft Natural Areas Management Plan suggested creating a set of formal, marked trails through the upland portions of the woods and the Dallas groves and to create boardwalk trails through the seasonally flooded sections.
“Such trails would limit — though not completely restrict — people from walking through the informal, ‘bandit’ paths, would create a maintenance network allowing staff to concentrate their cleaning and restoration efforts where they would be most effective and useful, and would create some long sightlines for police and other security forces to see into the areas without excessively limiting the size of natural area patches.”
The theory is that increasing the draw for legitimate users would reduce the number of illicit users.
Gudgeon notes that the Official Community Plan implementation strategy lists natural areas restoration as a priority for this year.
“This is a way the City of Victoria can move forward and achieve several goals at the same time,” Gudgeon said. “Not only are we preserving a natural area by putting in boardwalks and creating the environmental sensitivity, but we’re also encouraging people to come and see this area.” [email protected]
