NeighbourWoods on the Grand and five other groups around the province from Toronto, Ottawa, Peterborough, London, and Hamilton held events to officially launch the newly created Urban Forest Stewardship Network (UFSN) and its website, www.ufsn.ca last week.
In Centre Wellington, the event was held in Hoffer Park in Elora. A dozen trees were decorated with temporary price tags indicating the value urban trees provide to local residents.
Those include intercepting rain, resulting in reduced storm water runoff, conserving energy by shading homes and businesses, and improving air quality by trapping pollution particles that cause breathing problems. Those ecological goods and services provided by urban forests save municipalities and taxpayers millions of dollars every year in infrastructure and health costs.
An average mature tree provides $162,000 in ecological goods and services over its 50 year life span. NeighbourWoods on the Grand thank Shelter Office Pro Elora for its donation of the lamination of the tree tags.
The Urban Forest Stewardship Network will aid an exchange of ideas, resources, and contacts for people in Ontario interested in improving the local urban forest. The project was initiated by LEAF (Toronto), a Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests, thanks to support from Ontario Power Generation’s biodiversity program.
“Ontario’s urban forests are under increasing threat from development pressure, our changing climate, and invasive pests such as the emerald ash borer,” said NeighbourWoods on the Grand coordinator, Toni Ellis. “While tree planting has been ongoing for more than a century, it has not kept pace with the number of trees that are being lost to development, old age and general decline from urban stress.
“So, like most Ontario communities, we are experiencing a decline in canopy cover that is a significant loss to our quality of life and beauty.”
Added NeighbourWoods on the Grand volunteer Lynda Golletz, “The urban forest needs to be actively cared for if we hope to enjoy the benefits it provides. The UFSN website is a wonderful site for [those] who care about urban trees. On this site, citizens can access and share ideas, resources, and contacts to help in caring for and improving their local urban forest.”
Steve Hounsell, senior advisor for sustainable development at OPG said, “Since the spring of 2000, we’ve supported the planting of more than 4.4 million native trees and shrubs on 5,000 acres of strategically important lands for woodland habitat restoration.”
