The Forestry department of the City of Kitchener replants trees that need to be removed due to health issues or safety risks. They also identify places to plant new trees.
Recently, they created the Community Canopy Planting Project which targets areas of the community that lack tree coverage and plants on both public and private properties in that neighborhood.
“Tree canopy was assessed in 2019 using LIDAR imagery, and that gave us an assessment for tree canopy for each ward,” Hajnal Kovacs, forestry project manager for the City of Kitchener, said.
“This is all going towards our goal to get a city canopy cover of 30 per cent by 2050,” she said.
Kitchener partnered with Reep Green Solutions (REEP) to pilot the Community Canopy program. Reep is an environmental charity that aims to help people live more sustainably. They offer services that advise on water conservation, energy efficiency, healthy yards and waste reduction.
The first neighbourhood that participated in this program was Chandler-Mowat, as it had a low tree-equity score.
A tree-equity score measures the distribution of trees and green spaces within a community. The program looked at tree canopy percentages and census data to determine which neighbourhood to focus on.
“My team and I work to engage residents in Chandler-Mowat, to find out where they want to see new trees on public property and help to co-design a planting plan that would see at least 100 new trees planted on public property,” Taylor Ross, the community engagement coordinator for Community Canopy, said.
“We were also able to offer trees at low to no cost on private property,” she said.
Trees are vital to both the environment and quality of life as they reduce temperatures by providing shade, cleaning the air and water, capturing carbon emissions and reducing flooding. They improve mental health and wellbeing while also providing food and habitat for local fauna.
When choosing what trees to plant, both Reep and the City of Kitchener have their catalogues for potential species.
Reep only plants native species such as oaks, maples, hackberries and Kentucky coffee trees. The City of Kitchener prioritizes native trees but also includes cultivars as they may have better salt or winter tolerance.
“There’s a lot of maple interest in the community…but almost half of our city is a type of maple tree. So, it’s not necessarily a problem, but it’s a bit of a risk. If there is to get pests or something that comes through the community, that puts a lot of our trees at risk for possibly being basically annihilated,” Kovacs said.
One of the reasons that Chandler-Mowat has such low canopy coverage is that many ash trees had to be removed in recent years due to the prevalence of the invasive ash borer beetle. Planting only one type of tree in an area or the city as a whole leaves our canopy coverage vulnerable to similar threats.
“The public was great. We had a lot of engagement from residents to see where they wanted trees in their neighbourhood,” Ross said.
The targeted planting in Chandler-Mowat was able to get 150 trees on public and private property in the neighbourhood.
To choose the neighbourhood that will be targeted next year, the project is looking at interactive mapping data and taking feedback through the EngageWR platform.
Those who want to donate to future tree planting or purchase a subsidized tree for their own property can find more information on the Reep website.
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