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About this Award

The Tree Canada Public Education Award recognizes excellence in furthering the understanding of urban forestry issues and/or encouraging best practices in the urban forestry sector.

This award is open to individuals, the media or organizations.

UBC’s Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP)

CALP is an interdisciplinary research group focusing on innovative solutions that bridge research and practice, bringing visualization, science, modeling, land-use and landscape planning, and participatory processes to community engagement and capacity building on sustainability issues. CALP’s goals are to develop and implement better ways of collaborative learning, planning & social mobilization on climate change, community energy, urban forestry and other aspects of sustainable landscapes.

UBC’s Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP) is raising public awareness of urban forests, with their Citizens Coolkit, an innovative, comprehensive, exemplary outreach program that brings communities together around trees and climate action. By empowering Canadian households with a fun DIY toolkit, community members learn about their neighbourhood’s urban forest, and how it affects and is affected by climate change.

Richard W. Harper

Richard W. Harper, PhD, is an Extension Associate Professor of Urban & Community Forestry at the University of Massachusetts. Rick is a Past-President of the International Society of Arboriculture – New England Chapter, and is an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist.

Based on formal research interview data with urban forestry stakeholders (Harper et al. 2017), Rick launched the Urban Forestry Today monthly noonhour webcast series in 2014, to provide free, openly-accessible CEU opportunities to arborists/urban foresters across Canada, the U.S., and globally, regarding research-based best practices.

Through his supervision and instruction of urban forestry/arboriculture graduate and undergraduate students, he is also actively training arborists and arboriculture researchers for the next generation. Rick and his students continue to investigate key questions aimed at advancing and building the base of knowledge in urban forestry in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada.

The Town of Richmond Hill, Ontario

The Town of Richmond Hill’s Community Stewardship Program began with a goal of establishing healthier natural corridors and green space connections.

Now in its 20th year, the program continues to work towards this goal, as well as addressing current environmental challenges, such as mitigating climate change, urban heat island effect and urban pressures on biodiversity.

The program has allowed hands-on opportunities for residents, community groups and local businesses to roll up their sleeves and get involved in activities like tree and wildflower plantings, stream restoration, gardening workshops and environmental stewardship in public parks and green spaces.

Since 1998, the Community Stewardship Program has implemented more than 1,000 restoration projects with the help of 18,000 community volunteers and 108 schools, community groups and local businesses to:

  • plant 206,000 trees and shrubs,
  • restore 84 acres of land and 22 km of stream,
  • remove 323 bags of litter and 1,106 bags of invasive plant species.

And their efforts have worked to increase the canopy cover in Richmond Hill despite losses from the Emerald Ash Borer, the 2013 ice storm and ongoing land development.

How to Apply

Eligibility & Conditions

  • Applications are currently closed for this award.
  • Eligible contributions are those that have occurred in or have impacted Canada locally, regionally, provincially or nationally.
  • Applications can be made either by the (i) named applicant themselves or (ii) submitted on behalf of a named applicant by a nominator (such as a person in a senior position within their organization, Professor or person of recognised standing).
  • For the purpose of this award, urban forestry is considered as including trees, woodlands, forests, natural green space and green infrastructure in an urban or peri-urban setting.
  • All applications are treated as confidential by the Review Committee.
  • Applications are accepted in English or French.

Evalutation is based on candidates that:

  • Raise awareness of urban forestry issues among the general public or a targeted audience
  • Encourages the adoption of best practices in urban forestry
  • Creativity/originality
  • Technical quality
  • Success in fostering partnerships