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Back to the Forest Conference CUFC 10
Registration is now Open!
Please Check the Site and Register at http://www.cufc10.ca/
Tree Canada and the City of London, in partnership with the Ontario Urban Forest Council and the Society of Municipal Arborists, is hosting the 10th Canadian Urban Forest Conference in London, Ontario October 2nd – 4th.
London, The Forest City, has a long history of progressive and innovative forest management. With over 80% of Canadians living in urban areas, London will provide a focus for Canadian urban forest practices and allow a dialogue with professional and community groups on urban forest strategies, policies,technologies and management practices.
With an international airport and direct train links to Toronto, London The Forest City, has a long history of progressive and innovative forest management. With over 80% of Canadians living in urban areas, London is excited to provide a focus for Canadian urban forest practices, while allowing for a dialogue with professional and community groups on urban forest strategies, policies, technologies and management practices.
Program and Conference details will be updated at. www.cufc10.ca.
The conference will include:
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A strategic urban forest workshop and quality local, national and international presenters
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Field tours of London’s urban forest and Canada’s unique Carolinian Forest
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A banquet and gala event marking Tree Canada’s 20th anniversary
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Networking and dialoguing opportunities with Canadian urban forest leaders
EARLY REGISTRATION
if received by JUNE 30, 2012 – 15% Discount
on entire purchase
How Tall are Earth’s Forests -NASA Images
Astonishing view of the earth’s forests, their distribution and the height of trees around the world. Interesting to see the distribution of the tallest trees in Ontario, and although expected it is unfortunate to see this graphic representation of the lack of tall forests in the most populous areas.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20120217map.html
mage credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Heritage White Oak in Cambridge
Active History on the Grand: Heritage Trees in Ontario
by Karen Dearlove. Heritage White Oak Tree in Cambridge
While many of us may be familiar with the designation of built heritage properties under the Ontario Heritage Act, recently municipalities have been using the Ontario Heritage Act to designate individual trees as heritage trees. Municipalities like Burlington, Pelham, Thorold, Cambridge, and most recently Brant, have designated individual trees under the Ontario Heritage Act……………..
In 2008 the City of Cambridge passed a by-law to designate a 130 year-old White Oak tree under the Ontario Heritage Act. This tree survived a disastrous flood of the Grand River in 1974. Several one-hundred year old workers’ cottages in the vicinity of the tree had to be demolished after the ’74 flood, with the construction of a levee system along the banks of the Grand River and the raising of the grade of the land by five feet. At that time John Kingswood, forester for the City of Cambridge, decided to save the then 100 year old White Oak Tree on the grounds. He constructed a well around the tree and a system of drainage pipes to feed the tree’s root system. Today the heritage designated White Oak tree is a center-piece of the Cambridge Sculpture Garden on the banks of the Grand River in downtown Cambridge. At the time of its designation, Cambridge’s White Oak was only one of ten heritage designated trees in Ontario.
The most recent heritage designated tree in Ontario is a massive Black Walnut tree located in Brant County. Estimated at more than 150 years old, the tree may have originally been planted as a cultivated nut-bearing tree on a country estate.
While there are few examples of preserved built heritage in Ontario dating back over 200 years, there are at least two heritage designated trees that have been standing for over 250 years. Oakville has designated a 250-year old White Oak that was narrowly saved from being cut down for a road expansion project in 2006. Nearby Burlington designated a 300 year-old White Oak, that for hundred of years appeared on surveyors’ maps as a significant landmark distinguishing borders like Brant’s Block, and the border between Burlington and Aldershot.
The designation of these trees and others in Ontario speaks to a growing realization that cultural heritage isn’t just about old buildings and quaint downtowns, but the preservation of diverse elements of our landscape, including natural heritage and trees, that capture our human history and the history of our environment.
to read the entire article visit:
Waterloo Board Shade Policy Will Keep Schoolyards Cool
That’s because, in between the passionate debates about what time school should start and who should provide child care in schools, board trustees have quietly done something that’s just plain good sense. They passed a policy encouraging shade in schoolyards.
If you’ve been around one of those yards recently, you will notice that some have shaded areas (often thanks to parent volunteers who raised funds and watered saplings) and some don’t. And those yards that are just bare turf and asphalt are hostile environments for children.
Children have thinner, more sensitive skin than adults. A sunburn is more serious for them than it is for adults. An unshaded schoolyard can become so hot — some surfaces get to 92 degrees C — that students become miserable, stressed, and can hardly move. If that ground is shaded, the temperature is dramatically lowered and damage is also limited from harmful ultraviolet rays.
School board chair Catherine Fife is justifiably proud of the board’s policy, one of the first of its kind in the province. “A schoolyard is an extension of the classroom,” she said. You can’t stand in the classroom and teach children about the benefits of biodiversity, for example, while sending them out into a barren yard.
This policy “recognizes the importance of the provision of shade” in schools and encourages school councils to “develop school based greening solutions to address ongoing sun safety behaviours and shading initiatives.”
By having that as a policy, Fife said, it places the issue on the agenda. It’s an acknowledgement that resources are needed, and a message to the community that “this is a priority for us,” she said.
“I’m thrilled,” said Carol Moogk-Soulis, a Waterloo researcher who has spent many years measuring the temperature of Ontario schoolyards using satellite imagery. She found that some school grounds, with their asphalt parking lots, mowed grass, metal fences, and tar-and-chip roofs, can get so hot, they heat up the surrounding neighbourhood for up to 150 metres.
Moogk-Soulis said she will be watching the policy with interest as it unfolds.
What will be most interesting is the line in the report to trustees that says there are “no financial implications” in passing the policy.
In other words, there’s no extra money, right now, to help move the policy along and create more shade.
Trustee Harold Paisley, who chaired the committee that came up with the policy, said the board already has a limited budget for planting trees and shrubs. Almost all the school board’s income comes from the Ontario government, which is talking restraint. Much will depend on the generosity of corporate donations and the ingenuity of shade advocates and school councils.
That said, this move recognizes that the well-being of children goes hand in hand with their learning. It is a healthy beginning and deserves our support.
Thunder Bay Recognizes Importance of Urban Forest
Urban forest management plan suggest city be proactive in tree maintenance
By Leith Dunick,
The city’s trees are a valuable commodity that need to be protected and nurtured, says the author of a study looking at Thunder Bay’s urban forest management strategy.
“Thunder Bay has room to improve,” said Skip Kincaid of the Davey Resource Group. “Every city has room to improve their urban forest program. But in terms of the budget that they’re dealing with here, I think they’re doing an excellent job.
In terms of net value, city-owned trees are worth about $851,000 to the economy each year, after the $700,000 cost to maintain them is factored into the equation.
They also remove 13,525 kilograms of pollutants from the air, retain 78,606 cubic metres of storm water runoff from city sewers and reduce carbon dioxide levels by 2.5 million kilograms annually.
Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds said while he knew public trees were valuable, seeing an actual number attached was a bit shocking.
“The magnitude surprised me and I was really intrigued by the model (Kincaid) presented to quantify how valuable they are because it is much more then that tree is beautiful,” Foulds said.
Utimately he’d like to see the city, which spends three-tenths of a per cent of its annual budget on forestry management, create a healthy, sustainable urban forest that adds to the economic, social and environmental vitality of the city.
“Frankly, I knew we were on the low end of investment in urban forest, but I didn’t think we were that low,” Foulds said. “I was surprised. We saw the cost-benefit analysis, the two-for-one, and I guess what I’m going to be looking for is what is the appropriate investment to maximize that cost-benefit analysis, to maximize our storm-water management, to maximize our aesthetics, to maximize our energy.
“In the last five years the number of trees removed by the City of Thunder Bay has exceeded the number of trees planted by the City of Thunder Bay,” he said. “If the trend continues it doesn’t bode well.”
Excerpt from http://www.tbnewswatch.com/news/187725/Urban-forest-management-plan-suggest-city-be-proactive-in-tree-maintenance
