Vancouver produces a lot of noise — man-made noise. Even submersed in nature, the sounds of car traffic can be more common than birds chirping. Tara Brown knows this well.
“You shouldn’t have to leave the city to get away from the noise, right?” she said. “If we normalize this idea that cities are noisy, then we’re just going to keep losing these natural soundscapes, because there’s some expectation that we shouldn’t have them. My challenge is that it shouldn’t be true.”
Brown is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Forestry and the co-lead of Silent Trails, a Metro Vancouver pilot project featuring two trails that aim to enhance natural soundscapes, both for human wellbeing and environmental conservation.
I met with Brown at an entrance to Pacific Spirit Park on W 16th, and we walked to the entrance of Top Trail, one of the paths included in the project, along Huckleberry trail, where she told me about the project and her research.
The pilot project stemmed from a year-long research study where Brown took participants through four parks, including Pacific Spirit, in different seasons. The study aimed to explore the potential health benefits of nature immersion, examining how different environments and seasonal changes influenced participants’ wellbeing.
This is also known as studying the effects of forest bathing, the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which is immersing yourself in a forest environment and intentionally using your senses.
“It was a very new experience for many of the participants. Many were familiar with the parks, but they may have been walking, getting their exercise on or been social with a friend or a family member,” Brown said.
As we were walking, Brown stopped frequently to point out a western redcedar leaf or salal bush, and explained that the idea behind forest bathing is to slow down, and even stop, to smell, feel and listen to your surroundings.
Her dissertation research measured various health indicators before and after each participant engaged in forest bathing. These included blood pressure, heart rate, mood and connectedness to nature. In addition to quantitative measurements, individuals also recorded their personal feelings and experiences.
Many participants taken to parks in the city reported the high levels of noise they experienced, like people talking, traffic, garden maintenance or construction sites nearby.
Brown said participants would say, “‘Wow, it was a lot noisier than I expected,’ or ‘why can’t people be quieter?’ or maybe ‘you should have chosen a quieter forest.’”
Her research consistently showed that across the board, mood always got better and connectedness to nature increased.
Studies on forest bathing date back decades in Japan and Korea, but very little research has been done in Canada. Brown hopes her research on the “low-cost, low-risk activity” can provide region-specific analysis on the benefits of forest bathing.
One of Brown’s committee members is Dr. Melissa Lem, who runs PaRX, a heath care initiative of the BC Parks Foundation that promotes prescriptions to access nature to improve physical and mental wellbeing — leveraging nature to improve health outcomes.
“We have 15,000 health practitioners across Canada that can prescribe nature now,” she said. “I’m hoping that [with] this research, they can use [it] as evidence-based research to prescribe things like forest bathing for their patients.”
Taking her study into account, Brown approached Metro Vancouver with the idea of Silent Trails. Brown spent months searching for the perfect trails — those with less foot traffic, minimal connections to other routes, easy accessibility and soft ground. In Pacific Spirit Park, a portion of Top Trail stood out. Unlike most trails in the park, it is one of the only two that doesn’t have pea gravel — uniformed washed rock mainly used for decoration — and remains less manicured than the others.
“[Top Trail] is an original trail. When it was done, they plowed it, moved the dirt to the side and left it. This is important because it’s really quiet when you walk on the dirt,” Brown said.
At the trailhead, there’s a sign explaining the Silent Trail but Brown emphasized that its focus is on encouraging people to be mindful of nature’s sounds rather than restricting behaviour; it promotes awareness of how connecting with nature benefits both personal wellbeing and the preservation of the surrounding wildlife and soundscape.
“We are not telling people what not to do .... the idea is more like, if you explain and educate people on why something’s important, then you hope the community comes together to enforce it.”
During our conversation, she pulled out her phone and pulled up an app called Merlin, which highlighted different birds around us, including pine siskins, Anna’s hummingbirds and golden-crowned kinglets.
“This [project] is also about wildlife that require quiet in order to communicate, to forage, to mate, all those things that we disrupt if we have these urban sounds.”
Brown pointed out the importance of mixed vegetation at Top Trail. To maintain quieter trails, it’s not just about being far from roads but also about having both vertical and horizontal layers of plant life.
“We have our tree canopy, mid-layer and understory. You also want horizontal layers so you can see how far back the vegetation goes ... You have the conifers that provide noise mitigation ... and also an older tree with chunkier bark and moss is really good for dampening sound.”
Brown also emphasized the importance of light levels for health outcomes. This concept, known as komorebi, the Japanese word for light filtering through leaves, plays a key role in forest bathing. Observing how sunlight shines through the leaves or the beams of light breaking through the canopy can enhance the sense of peace and connection to nature people feel, according to Brown.
“Although we call this a silent trail, it’s not just about listening, it’s about noticing with your senses,” she said. “As long as it’s quiet, then you’ll slow down. And you might notice things.”
The pilot project concluded at the end of December when Brown finished her PhD, and while it remains uncertain if the initiative will become permanent, the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The hope is that there’s enough people that think this is important that the pilot will turn into a permanent designation.”
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