Urban Forest Management Planning

Diverse urban forest management and tree maintenance practices play a vital role in keeping urban forests healthy, managing tree hazards, planting trees, and/or generally sustaining tree canopy in urban areas. However, these practices have often targeted public trees, focusing on street trees or specific management practices (e.g., pruning). Urban tree maintenance and management have often been implemented as reactive responses to natural disasters or invasive species impact rather than as proactive approaches. While the importance of urban forests was recognized in the 1960s, it took over 50 years to understand how this valuable natural resource should be managed in its entirety and more strategically. 

Strategic urban forest management in Canada emerged in the early 2000s, based on the idea that the entire urban forest and all its components need to be strategically managed through a carefully planned process (Kenney, 2003; Kenney et al., 2011). Such strategic and effective urban forest management ensures that the diverse benefits urban forests provide are maximized and sustained over time. As critical components of green infrastructure and urban land uses, urban forests and green spaces require careful planning and management that is adaptive and sustainable. Taking a proactive approach to urban forest management ensures that urban forests are not left unmanaged. It also ensures that an urban forest management plan addresses foreseen pressures and challenges such as urban development, genetic diversity of tree species, and tree age distribution. Additionally, it incorporates measures for unforeseen challenges that could occur due to pest outbreaks, invasive species impacts, or climate change. 

The leading objectives of urban forest management are to optimize the tree canopy leaf area by planting and maintaining a genetically diverse and site-appropriate mix of trees and shrubs, which should be achieved cost-effectively while maximizing public benefits and minimizing risks to public safety. Urban forest management planning begins by assessing the existing state of urban forests using the most recent data. If tree inventories are not available, new management plans should include a tree inventory that surveys tree species, size, overall health, and value. Urban forest inventories are prerequisite for measuring urban forest benefits and developing comprehensive urban forest management plans, and also serve as a base for developing natural asset management plans (GIOC, 2016). While natural asset management ideas related to natural areas emerged in 2017, the concept has also been applied to urban forests overall. Recently, Urban Forest Certification standards were developed to address the growing need for sustainable management of urban forests (SFI, 2024). All these approaches contribute to urban forest management and share many common objectives and components, namely tree inventories. 

Strategic Urban Forest Management Planning in Canadian Cities 

Urban forests and all their elements have been recognized as the backbone of green infrastructure in Canada, and as critical for connecting urban and rural green areas (GIOC, 2015; NRCan, Canadian Forest Service, 2022). Strategic management planning emphasizes the importance of managing all urban forest components and their associated biotic and abiotic elements across a wide range of land uses and areas, from large to small communities, as well as the areas between them. Moreover, the entire urban forest, including trees across a range of urban spaces such as streets, parks, cemeteries, arboretums, private properties, and natural forest fragments, is recognized by strategic management planning. 

The importance of strategic urban forest management planning was introduced to Canada by Kenney et al (2011), but the first Urban Forest Master Plan was developed for Prince George in 2003 as a response to the impact of fire that devastated the area. Following the principles of strategic urban forest management planning, urban forest strategic management plans were developed by many municipalities, such as the Town of Oakville (2008), the City of Guelph (2008), Town of Ajax (2011), and Halifax and the City of Toronto (2013), to name a few. While the development of urban forest plans in Canada peaked from 2010-14 within more urbanized mixed-forest regions (Ordóñez Barona, 2024; Puric-Mladenovic & Bardekjian, 2023b), new urban forest plans are still developing, while the early plans are being updated or prepared for renewal.

Urban forest management plans or strategies that provide a long-term, strategic approach to protect, preserve, and enhance the municipal urban forest are typically approved by city councils. Canadian municipalities are among the global leaders in terms of urban forest management planning, with over 80 urban municipalities having urban forest management plans.  For example, based on the 2023 study (Puric-Mladenovic and Bardekjian, 2023b), 89 out of 800 (11%) of the examined municipalities had an urban forest management strategy and/or urban forest management plan. Since that time, there has been an increase to 118 (14.7%) municipalities with urban forest management plans or strategies. For example, Saskatoon recently released its Urban Forest Management Plan 2022-2031, which emphasizes the importance of urban forest sustainability (City of Saskatoon, 2022); the City of Saanich (2024) followed close behind with a 10-year urban forest strategy published in 2024.

These urban forest management plans, though all aimed at maintaining and maximizing urban forest canopy and tree benefits, differ based on how they approach implementation, tree maintenance, increasing canopy coverage, diversifying species, or involving the community (Kenney et al., 2011; Ordóñez & Duinker, 2013). Urban forest management plans are also crucial for maximizing ecological services and resilience by guiding the long-term management of a healthy, biodiverse, resilient urban forest.

Not all of these plans are created equally; some are detailed plans with set goals and timelines, while some are more like strategies than plans. For example, the context of some plans is more like an outline of the importance of urban forests rather than a management plan. However, they are still valuable for setting the stage for developing a Strategic Urban Forest Management Plan (SUFMP), which is a long-term plan (typically 20 or 25 years) with a detailed roadmap of how to achieve the set long-term vision and goals. SUFMPs are based on measurable objectives that allow plans to move strategically from a baseline condition to a desired set target while prioritizing implementation and monitoring the implementation and success of the plan. These plans are based on understanding the existing state of the urban forest and then setting measurable objectives, criteria, and indicators, which are all crucial to developing an actionable management plan. Strategic urban forest management planning objectives, depending on the region, type of urban area, and state of the urban forest, can include increasing tree canopy cover, enhancing the longevity and health of urban forests, diversifying species, or fostering engagement from the community. Other common goals in SUFMP for urban forests across Canada include expanding species diversity, improving tree health, managing invasive species, increasing resilience against climate change and natural disasters, and improving canopy cover equity.  

SUFMP objectives are achieved through detailed operational plans, which might include reaching specific canopy cover percentage targets, plans for invasive species removal, followed by native species plantings, community stewardship initiatives, or hazard tree removals, to name a few (Kenney et al., 2011; Ordóñez & Duinker, 2013). For example, the urban forest plan for the City of Calgary aims to raise canopy cover to 16% by 2060, protect current forests, and engage the community in forestry projects (City of Calgary, n.d.), while the plan for the City of Toronto aims to achieve 40% canopy cover by 2050 (City of Toronto, 2023). Strategic goals in SUFMP are aimed to be achieved through specific operational plans that are typically at 4-5 year intervals. Furthermore, 4-5 year operational plans are implemented through Annual Operating Plans (AOPs). AOPs involve day-to-day decisions on things like planting, pruning, and felling trees, controlling pests and diseases, and ensuring optimal water and soil conditions. Annual operational planning also involves developing a budget, delegating roles and responsibilities, and establishing metrics to monitor progress. As an illustration, a strategic urban forest plan for the City of Calgary involves operational initiatives of caring for existing trees, planting 3,500 new trees each year, and prioritizing public safety and legal safeguards to protect new and existing trees through bylaws (City of Calgary, n.d.). 

Natural Asset Management  

Natural Asset Management (NAM) is an emerging approach to urban forestry in Canada where natural features are viewed as any other municipal asset or gray infrastructure that provides essential services. In this context, urban forests, as a natural asset, are placed into formal municipal asset management frameworks and plans. Several Canadian municipalities have implemented NAM strategies to enhance urban forest management; the Town of Gibsons, BC, was the first to implement NAM and recognize aquifers, forests, and wetlands as green infrastructures that need management. A monetary value was assigned to these natural systems, which enabled them to be incorporated into the town’s asset management plans and ensure their management and sustainable use (Town of Gibsons, 2018). Another example is the City of Edmonton, which developed an Urban Forest Asset Management Plan that focuses on the characteristics and conditions of publicly managed urban forest assets (City of Edmonton, 2021). It also provides a framework for achieving desired service levels at optimal life cycle costs. The City of Saskatoon also recently completed an inventory of its natural assets (wetlands, a portion of the South Saskatchewan River, grasslands, forest/shrublands) and completed their evaluation to support their own NAM (City of Saskatoon, 2020).  

Urban Forest Certification

Forest sustainability and good management certifications have existed in Canada for managed forests and woodlots since 2005 (PEFC, 2024), but recently the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certifying body has developed certification standards for environmental, social, and governance challenges related to urban forests. The SFI certification standards for urban forests are grouped into 16 different objectives aimed at continual improvement of urban forestry programs. The 16 core objectives are: fostering community, people, and Indigenous participation; enhancing human health and well-being; conserving biodiversity; stewarding natural resources such as air, water, and soil; promoting tree health and vitality; protecting special sites, including natural areas; implementing climate-smart management; advancing urban forest planning; ensuring effective management and care of urban forests; preparing for and responding to disasters; building capacity; utilizing urban wood resources; strengthening communications; supporting science, research, and technology; adhering to legal and regulatory standards, including Indigenous rights, and maintaining transparent reporting (SFI, 2024). Achieving these objectives should be an end goal for any new SUFMP.

Urban Forests Monitoring

All urban forest management initiatives must be evaluated for their performance using both pre-determined criteria and adaptive judgments of the effect of management strategies on urban forests. As such, consistent long-term monitoring is crucial to supporting and evaluating any urban forest management plan. Monitoring may take the form of updated street tree inventories, canopy cover equity mapping and analyses, policy impacts, woodlands and natural areas monitoring, vegetation monitoring, or public opinion surveys (among a myriad of other monitoring approaches) (Green Municipal Fund, n.d.). Provisions for continued monitoring should be included in all steps of management plans.