Urban Forestry Toolkit

Urban forests play a vital role in helping communities adapt to and mitigate climate change, reduce air pollution, sequester carbon and save energy through natural heating and cooling. But urban forests are facing increasingly difficult growing conditions. Exotic pests, more frequent and severe storms, and the loss of soils in urban developments all contribute to stressed urban forests. In order to contribute to healthy, resilient communities, these valuable assets need to be managed proactively and supported consistently across the province.

Green Infrastructure Ontario’s urban forestry toolkit is a set of documents that support those working to improve urban forest management across the province. This toolkit builds upon our 2015 report Ontario’s Urban Forests: Call to Action and was developed with input from professionals around the province.

The first piece of the toolkit can help build the case for the value that urban forests provide as a municipal asset – with the goal of integrating urban forest management into municipal asset management plans. Read the bulletin on communicating the benefits of the urban forest in a municipal context HERE>>.

The second document in our toolkit helps urban forest managers understand how urban forest assets fit into the municipal asset management planning process. Read the urban forest asset managment primer HERE>>.

Read the full article HERE>>