Awareness and Community Stewardship

What sets urban forestry apart from other branches of forestry is its direct connection and relevance to people, and its role in providing social and ecological benefits that extend to all urban residents, not just individuals or specific groups. People around the world are becoming increasingly involved in their communities, and recent decades have seen a remarkable rise in community engagement with urban forestry. Today, urban residents are more concerned than ever about the greenery in their neighborhoods and the health of their trees. They are eager to contribute to the protection and care of these natural resources. This growing awareness about the importance of urban forests and their management has led to an increase in public and community participation in urban forest stewardship across Canada.

Awareness and stewardship in urban forestry are driven by people caring about their communities and wanting to be involved in tree care and management (Su et al., 2022). There is a diversity of perceptions about urban forests and green spaces, and many reasons why people and communities get engaged. Whether for aesthetics, recreation, or a general appreciation for the environment, people feel connected to the trees in their cities. A recent survey found that around 90% of urban residents felt some sort of connection to urban trees, and nearly half responded that they had a ‘favourite tree’ (University of Derby, 2023).  A large percentage of urban dwellers (over 85%) acknowledged that trees contribute to cleaner air and water, wildlife habitat, and better mental health. This shows that urban residents are aware of the value and benefits they receive from urban trees and want to contribute to their continued stewardship (Conway & Scott, 2020; Damian, 2020).

In many ways, the success of urban forestry depends on involvement from multiple stakeholders and partners, including organizations, various levels of government, and citizens. There are also many non-government organizations, organized and unofficial, that contribute to raising awareness and supporting stewardship of urban forestry.

Community Stewardship in Canadian Municipalities

Many municipalities in Canada have urban forestry strategies, many of which have explicit objectives concerning community awareness, stewardship, and involvement in urban forest management. Stewardship and community engagement are major components of urban forest management, where communities and individuals help municipalities. Community stewardship is a cornerstone of effective urban forest management, whether through tree planting events, monitoring and inventory efforts, or just caring for public and private trees in a city neighbourhood.

Additionally, many municipalities across Canada also provide support and funding for community members interested in contributing to urban forestry. For example, municipalities such as Ottawa, Kitchener, and Halifax directly acknowledge in their urban forest master plans that community involvement and stewardship are essential for long-lasting, proactive management. The city of London, Ontario created a program called Neighbourhood ReLeaf to encourage community members to get involved in planting and caring for urban trees by providing funding for trees and planting events, guidance for caring for and maintaining urban trees, and education about the human benefits and ecological value provided by urban trees (ReForest London, n.d). 

The city of Vancouver also recently put out a call for local support in maintaining urban trees during drought seasons. The city published a how-to guide to inform residents on the importance of urban trees, what their needs are, and how to keep them healthy and watered during the summer months (City of Vancouver, 2023). Various other Canadian municipalities across the country have embarked on similar endeavours, including the City of Oakville (2024), the City of Wolfville (2024), the City of Saddle Hills (Bozic, 2024), and the City of Saskatoon (2024).

Toronto leads Canadian municipalities in the robustness of its urban forest management program, being one of Canada’s largest leaders in terms of investing in urban forest stewardship (City of Toronto, 2024). In six years, the city’s Urban Forestry Grants and Incentives Program invested over $20.5 million in urban forestry, funding over 200 independent projects across the city and planting upwards of 100,000 trees (City of Toronto, 2024). The program supports partnerships and collaborations with citizens, landowners, and non-profit organizations to bolster the city’s priorities outlined in its strategic forest management plan (City of Toronto, 2013). 

The city of Edmonton also supports a well-established urban forest stewardship program called the Grow Together program, which allows the city to expand urban forests by partnering with community groups and neighbourhood associations interested in learning more about urban forest stewardship and planting more trees within their neighbourhood (City of Edmonton, n.d.). The program provides educational events, tree planting efforts, and support for citizens looking to engage in proper urban forest management. 

But stewardship doesn’t just mean helping hands and planting trees; it includes engaging citizens in envisioning the future of their urban forest by engaging them in urban forest management planning. Engaging community members across Canada to develop guiding principles, intended outcomes, responsibility expectations, and specific strategies and actions for management plans can support the most effective urban forest management. For example, Edmonton, like several other municipalities across Canada, has an urban forest management plan that is advised by community members and scientific experts.

Residential support for urban forestry policy, including policies specifically targeting residential areas, is an understudied component of successful urban forest management. This ties into the awareness aspect of community engagement, and cities are beginning to incorporate open meetings, information sessions, and avenues for public input regarding forestry goals, desired outcomes, and policy application (Conway and Wang, 2014).

NGO Groups 

Non-government organizations are an important part of urban forest stewardship efforts in Canada. They promote education and information about urban forest stewardship, sustainable development, and community engagement in municipal forestry management. These organizations hold workshops, public speaking events, and educational meetings so citizens can understand how to get involved in urban forestry. Such efforts involving local communities in urban forestry initiatives result in engaged residents who are more likely to support and care for urban trees. This, in turn, can supplement municipal tree care efforts and ensure urban forestry’s long-term success and sustainability (Bourque et al., 2021).  

NGOs’ contributions are critical to stewardship initiatives outside of the city-owned land, but some NGOs also often support municipal initiatives. There are many creative urban forest partnerships and initiatives where NGOs partner with cities, governments, and foundations to deliver urban forest stewardship and education, and raise awareness. Non-profit organizations such as the Green Municipal Fund, Network of Nature, and Tree Canada provide tree-planting and urban forestry grants or lists of grants for municipalities and other organizations in Canada, helping to create connections and partnerships between communities and environmental organizations (Green Municipal Fund, n.d.; Network of Nature, 2024; Tree Canada, n.d.).

NGOs also contribute funds and labour to urban forestry initiatives. They mobilize donations from industry and corporate groups and often broker public-private partnerships. For example, the McMaster Marauders (Rukavina, 2024) and sports events like the Allstate Soccer Show in Calgary (PlanIT Geo, n.d.) come together to raise money for tree planting efforts in their communities.

Large-scale citizen-led groups are also important in starting and maintaining stewardship initiatives. In Ontario, citizens in the township of Centre Wellington assembled an organization called Tree Trust, which is dedicated to raising awareness about old and irreplaceable urban trees in hopes of preserving them (Tree Trust Centre Wellington, n.d.). By educating residents about the value of large old trees, not just for aesthetic purposes but also for their carbon sequestration/storage capacity, Tree Trust has been able to officially protect over 80 large, mature trees in multiple chapters across southern Ontario, and is working to expand its efforts. In Manitoba, residents have coalesced to form an organization called Trees Winnipeg with the goal of protecting urban trees, specifically with a coalition to save elm trees, which are suffering from a fatal fungal infection known as Dutch Elm Disease (DED). By building awareness and educating Winnipeg residents about how to recognize signs and symptoms of DED, the organization is able to increase its monitoring bandwidth and increase the probability of catching incidences of DED before they progress too far or spread (Trees Winnipeg, n.d.). 

The public and residents can take part in certain tree maintenance tasks, such as caring for young trees. Several programs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide education and assistance to community groups and residents for maintaining urban trees. One example is the Citizen Pruners program, launched by Tree Trust, which teaches volunteers how to properly prune trees and also keeps community members engaged in urban forestry beyond the initial planting phase. This training is conducted under the supervision of professional arborists, and the program effectively enlists volunteers to help maintain young trees following planting efforts, ensuring proper growth and survivorship. The program has been piloted in Elora, Thunder Bay, and the Long Branch neighborhood of Toronto (EEC, n.d.).  Similarly, in Vancouver, BC, the TreeKeepers’ Citizen Forester Program, led by certified arborists, educates Citizen Foresters on selecting, planting, and caring for urban trees, equipping them with knowledge they can share with their community (Tree Keepers, n.d.). Tree Canada, through its Community Tree Grants, supports community-led tree planting and tree care initiatives across the country by providing funding and resources to municipalities, Indigenous communities, and non-profit organizations for tree planting and stewardship projects (Tree Canada, n.d.).

There are efforts to raise awareness and appreciation for large trees across Canada. On North Pender Island in British Columbia, the Raincoast Conservation Fund has organized an effort to register big trees in an effort to increase opportunities for community engagement in conservation. Using tools like iNaturalist, residents are encouraged to submit large trees to the registry in efforts to protect them from logging and development (Willis, 2023). Ontario also has several initiatives to raise awareness and appreciation for large trees, such as the Tree Trust program, which focuses on preserving mature trees, recognizing their substantial environmental and social values, and funding their professional care. 

Community Groups

Community involvement is one of the pillars of urban forestry in Canada. At the local scale, neighbourhood organizations and community groups are responsible for many of the most successful grassroots movements in Canadian urban forestry. Usually born out of concern for specific geographic areas, these local volunteering organizations mobilize around certain topics, like saving a park from development, restoring a degraded site, protecting certain trees and tree species in urban areas, conducting tree inventories, and monitoring their urban forest.

For example, Vancouver employs an urban forestry strategy that provides tools for maintaining healthy, resilient urban green spaces by increasing community involvement in forest stewardship, providing education and information to urban residents about the benefits and importance of urban forests, and creating programs to improve access to urban green spaces (City of Vancouver, n.d.). In 2015, the city of Vancouver developed a strategic urban forestry plan to be implemented over five years, using community involvement and stewardship to achieve concrete objectives and goals guided by science, with the end goal of protecting and improving urban forests and biodiversity (City of Vancouver, 2015). 

Neighbourwoods© is Canada’s first urban forest citizen science program, founded by Dr. Kenney and Dr. Puric-Mladenovic to connect academic research with community involvement. They pioneered community engagement and citizen science initiatives for forest conservation that train citizens to inventory and monitor urban trees, assess their health, and identify potential areas for planting. The program has been instrumental in urban forest stewardship on private lands, training hundreds of volunteers and numerous communities across Ontario. It has also engaged many students from the Master of Forest Conservation (MFC) program to assist communities with inventory, education, and the creation of relevant reports and plans. The standard and spatial data collected have enabled data-driven management and stewardship decisions, leading to the development of community stewardship plans. Data from this program continues to be utilized in applied research related to carbon sequestration, invasive species management, tree growth, risk assessment, and more. Other community efforts, such as a Bioblitz, an event where citizens help identify, inventory, and catalogue different species of plants, insects, and birds, are also a way to increase community involvement in urban biodiversity and stewardship (iNaturalist, 2024). Local efforts to save parks from development, such as the Save City Hall Park effort in Vancouver, are an example of residents coming together to stand up for urban green spaces and become involved in their protection and stewardship (City Hall Watch, 2024). 

Overall, awareness and stewardship are some of the most powerful and unique aspects of urban forestry in Canada. Municipalities, NGOs, neighbourhoods, and individuals are all vital in the effort to manage urban forests in Canadian cities effectively and sustainably.