A vision that supports Toronto’s mature trees

Did you know that the City of Toronto has a clear vision about how it plans to maintain and protect its urban forest canopy?

I learned about this impressive vision just a week ago. It inspires a longing in me to see something similar happen in Ottawa.

I won’t summarize or extensively quote the nuggets of creative and sensible thinking that I discovered in the final pages of a 2013 report entitled Every Tree Counts. I will only say that Toronto has pegged the benefits that mature trees provide, for free, as being worth $28 million per year to people in that city.

What do we provide to trees in return?

I urge you to take a few minutes to read three pages of text, Section 6 Every Tree Counts, from the Toronto report (PDF will load). You may find yourself wondering: how can citizens create a similar vision here in Ottawa? What can citizens do to protect and maintain mature trees in the urban canopy here?

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