Council approves Tree Planting Strategy early actions

On Tuesday, June 25, Council approved two reports related to the Tree Planting Strategy: Tree Equity Analysis and Tree Program Review – Early Actions. The Tree Planting Strategy is the feature project of the Urban Forest Management Plan for this Term of Council. The project will help move the City towards the new urban canopy cover target of 40% by shifting the approach to tree planting from reactive to proactive. These reports have details on early actions to guide work under the Tree Planting Strategy and start the process of growing the urban forest. The early actions approved are summarized below.

Approach to Tree Equity Analysis

The equitable distribution of tree canopy is a guiding principle of the Tree Planting Strategy. To incorporate equity, staff will be using American Forests’ Tree Equity Score to undertake a tree equity analysis for the city. This approach will support the goal of providing residents with equitable access to urban forest canopy cover. The American Forests’ methodology uses multiple socio-economic and health factors to correlate equity to urban tree cover. The results of the analysis will enable staff to identify and target priority areas for tree planting. The analysis is currently underway, and staff will be back with results later this year.

Tree Dedication Program

Staff have unveiled their rebrand of the Commemorative Tree Program. The new program will be the Tree Dedication Program and will have a wider eligibility for dedications, such as birthdays, anniversaries, and other milestones. The program will have two streams: “Personal Dedications” and “Community Dedications” with revised costs. Staff will be working on detailed implementation and communications plans. Stay tuned for more information on application for 2025.

Proactive Right-of-Way (ROW) Replacements

The current approach to replacing trees on the ROW is reactive, meaning that residents must request a replacement tree through the Trees in Trust program. The new approach to replacing trees on the ROW will be proactive. This means when a tree is removed, it will be replaced without the need for the resident to contact the City about a replacement. To accommodate this shift to a proactive approach, the City would scale up caliper tree planting operations by about 2000 trees over several years. Staff are working to determine funding for this new approach.

New Private Land Tree Planting Program

Private property currently offers a large opportunity to increase urban forest cover. A new Private Land Tree Planting program was approved that will include city-wide tree distributions and full-service tree planting in areas identified as a priority by the tree equity analysis. More details will be shared as staff develop the program.