City of Vancouver gains nearly 1,500 trees in 2020 Published: January 31, 2021, 6:00am Share: Community members participate in a tree-planting event at Ellsworth School Park in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The pandemic derailed the city's plans to plant a thousand trees last year, and they leaned on private property owners to surpass the goal. (Contributed photo) Vancouver added 1,490 new arboreal additions to its tree canopy in 2020, surpassing its original goal of planting one thousand trees last year despite challenges posed by COVID-19. Across both public and private land, volunteers and city staff planted nearly 1,500 large-caliper trees, or trees with a stem diameter of more than 2 inches.