Plan carefully, know your trees, engage the public, and use partnerships to build capacity and secure funding, advised panelists at an urban forestry webinar hosted recently by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

Alexandre Fichon, environmental analyst for Longueuil, Quebec (population 250,000), described how his suburban Montreal community’s urban forest strategy came into being.

The first step was a vision statement for where Longueuil wanted its forest canopy to be in 2030. Shortly thereafter, the emerald ash borer would decimate the city’s canopy cover. More than 50,000 ash trees were lost.

Galvanized by this loss, Longueuil created a plan de verdissement (greening plan). The first stage was a review of all existing information, from old policies to other relevant municipal plans and directives, Fichon told listeners.

City staffers then took an inventory of the existing urban forest and assembled a granular profile of the entire region, assessing everything from soil quality to the location of heat islands. Increases in both invasive species (due to warmer winters) and paved areas emerged as particular challenges.

Faced with a multitude of possible objectives, municipalities will want to prioritize, Fichon advised. Longueuil chose heat mitigation for vulnerable populations as a top objective. Improving biodiversity within its urban forests—to encourage resilience in the face of climate hazards—was another.

The priority for Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia (population 1,000), was to “move beyond a really reactive approach when it came to the community’s trees,” said Lauren Clark, the town’s climate and energy program manager. While some of Mahone Bay’s oldest trees date to 1919, the year the town was founded, the past 60 years have seen next to nothing in the way of street tree planting, she said.

Aiming to change that, Mahone Bay began by taking stock of its existing urban forest, using the TreePlotter Inventory.

Like Longueuil, Mahone Bay has committed to increasing native species and biodiversity. Clark also cited the urban forestry rule of thumb, 30-20-10, which says that a resilient urban forest should contain no more than 30% of any family (such as conifers), 20% of any one genus (such as cedars), and 10% of any one species (such as eastern white cedar).

With a focus on “proactive tree maintenance,” Mahone Bay now has a management plan that will see each street tree pruned once every seven years, with particular focus on wildfire prevention.

Fichon noted that optimal maintenance requires stable funding that amounts to 50% of the cost of the original planting.

Anxious to encourage a culture of tree appreciation and care, Mahone Bay focused a great deal on community engagement. This has included weekly “tree walks,” guided by Clark, and several public events at the village fire hall.

Public engagement has also been a key goal for Simon Wilmot, forest and environmental officer for Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, which lost 12,600 mature trees to Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

“High and immediate impact” should be the goal, said Wilmot. “Better 10 trees in one park, than one tree each in 10 parks. And do mixed planting, so people don’t need to wait too long to see results.”

He also urged listeners to “use flowering trees where you can,” because “aesthetics matter.”

Noting that complete ecosystem restoration is critical to keeping invasive species out, Wilmot recommended the labour-intensive “Miyawaki” mini-forest approach as a good way to bring the public together to “talk about the way forest communities work.”

All the panelists urged communities to build partnerships to generate capacity and funding. Schools, colleges, and universities are excellent sources of willing labour, Wilmot said.

As for financing, he added, “Apply for funding! Everywhere!”

The FCM is urging interested communities to apply for its Growing Canada’s Community Canopies tree-planting grants.