Last week, the park board announced it planned to leave the beaches largely bare after staff removed logs during the pandemic to encourage physical distancing. Back then, the logs were stacked on the beaches and surrounded by blue fencing. The enclosures were called “log jails”. According to Steve Jackson, director of business services with the park board, staff found that people were less likely to leave trash behind when the logs were gone and cleanup was easier. Jackson also said that without logs, beachgoers can sit wherever they want, but when the logs are in place, people aren’t likely to sit in the awkward space between them. A machine is used to remove a log from Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver in March 2020, in response to the start of the pandemic. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC) This week, as the weather makes for perfect beach days, the topic has attracted a surprising number of opinions on logs — mostly in favor. “I would bring them back because it gives you a nice place to sit. It gives everybody a place to put their stuff. It fills it up because right now it’s empty,” said Harmeet Dhaliwal. Jacqueline Kho and her friend were sitting on one of the few logs that line the edges of Jericho Beach on Monday afternoon. “I miss the logs. It was nice to mark your area on the beach, a place to put your stuff, to lean on,” Kho said. “Yeah, I miss the logs. I wish they would come back.” Micha Ignatev had set up on a blanket in the sand, out on the sparse stretch of beach. “It frames the beach. It gives a bit of segmentation. You have a certain space when you’re next to a log,” he said. An aerial photo shows logs evenly placed on Vancouver’s Locarno Beach on July 5, 2022. (Ben Nelms/CBC) Troy Moltz and two friends set up at Jericho Beach on a blanket as well — two bikes and a skateboard in the sand. “Honestly, yes. It would be good to have the bike leaning against a log,” Moltz said, adding that leaning or sitting is also fine. “I’d bring the logs back, yes,” he said, eyeing a nearby beachgoer who had grabbed one of the rare logs closer to shore. Log piles are no longer surrounded by blue fences or “log prisons”. (Rafferty Baker/CBC) But trunk advocates were not without their critics at Jericho Beach on Monday. Kylie Brezsnyak and a friend lay on a blanket on a spacious stretch of beach with plenty of room before the next group. They said they actually prefer to stretch out in the open, empty space of the beach. “When you don’t have the logs, there’s more space for a lot of people to sit and less of a marked space,” Brezsnyak said. “Helps in a busy day.” The results of a quick survey conducted by CBC News at Jericho Beach on Monday likely reflect the feedback the park board has received since its plan for the logs became public last week. “We’re learning as we go and hearing from the public sometimes when things don’t line up with their particular views and opinions. We’ve been really encouraged to hear from the public and hear that they want the beach logs back,” Jackson said. “There’s a realistic scenario where some more logs are going to be reset. We have to figure out how many, how do we space them out, what’s going to strike that balance between those who want that open space on the beach and those who want those logs back.”
