The Toronto Tree Thread

[Northern Light]

I have separately reported on the good/bad w/trees along Queen's Quay and Bloor in their respective threads.

Thought I would add a few other observations from my jaunt today here.

Harbour Street - Trees east of York Street to Bay, looking very healthy, the trees west of York, north side, all goners.

Yonge Street - College to Gerrard section - the trees installed along the west side of the street in continuous planters are all performing very well; one showed some minor die-back, but the rest looked very healthy.
They've put on some real size too! Credit both good design of planters and choosing proven performer in Honey Locust for the trees.

Yonge Street, Lakeshore to Harbour - A case study in the difference planting conditions make, those trees in the quality continuous planter beds, set in from the road are by and large healthy and robust. The street-edge trees in pits, all pretty sad sack, either dead, dying or 'poor' condition at best.

Overall, the good news is that I am seeing evidence that the City is learning, more trees are being put in better conditions, and survival rates are rising.

The disappointment, thousands of trees have been planted in terrible conditions over the decades and it will take a long time to fix it all.

 

[Northern Light]

The City of Toronto is experimenting w/new tree grates and guards as default standards where trees are pitted.

The intent is to reduce compaction.

I think its a moderate positive, but pits remain far less effective than trenches/planter beds.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Can we use this thread to give a shout-out to the planters at Ryerson's new Daphne Cockwell building?

Sidewalk looking good with attractive stonework, benches, bike racks, and trees imminent.

Greenery...plus front entranceway work...

They even incorporated seating!

I made the point to Ryerson's campus planners a year ago at their open house that every planter on campus should come with seating, so here is hoping they continue the trend as they rework Gould Street and Nelson Mandela Way.

 

[Northern Light]

Article up on CBC discussing Eric Davies, a PhD student at U of T who has been leading a charge for more public and private funding to implement the Ravine Strategy and in particular to tackle the pervasiveness of non-native, invasive species.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ravines-eric-davies-public-private-conservancy-plan-restore-forest-ecology-1.5181589

 

[Northern Light]

Cross posting from the Climate Change thread:

A study is out looking at how many trees can and should be planted, and where in order to combat climate change.

For First Time Ever, Scientists Identify How Many Trees to Plant and Where to Plant Them to Stop Climate Crisis

Researchers have identified exactly where we can plant a certain amount of trees in order to stop the climate crisis in its tracks.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

Canada's share, 78,000,000 hectares worth which would equate to roughly 195 Billion trees at 2,500 per hectare or 1 per 4m2

The promise of 2 Billion now seems rather inadequate......

 

[Northern Light]

So, in the light of the above, I gave some quick thought to where one might carry our large scale reforestation in the GTA.

I opted to look at public lands first, then golf courses and finally lands in the Greenbelt, particularly if they connected 2 or more existing Conservation parcels.

In general I tried to consider parcels greater than 1km2 only which would equal 100ha or 250,000 trees roughly (less if one applies discounts for trails, or alternate habitat types.

Here's what I came up with (note these are quick and crude calculations using google maps)

Reforest the currently farmed/fallow areas of the TRCA-owned Clairville Conservation Area - 2km2
Reforest publicly owned, farmed lands within Rouge Park - City of Toronto (south of Steeles only) 4.3km2
Reforest publicly owned, farmed/vacant lands in Rouge Park - Markham/Stouffville - 24km2
Reforest City-owned Don Valley Golf Course - 2km2
Reforest Station Creek/Bethesda Golf Course block in the Oak Ridges Moraine - 2.2km2
Reforest public and private lands farmed or vacant along the Rouge River (not in Rouge Park) in north Markham - 6.7km2
Reforest farmed/vacant lands that connect several TRCA-owned conservation parcels centred on Glen Major Conservation Area - 5km2
Reforest the TRCA-owned Nashville Conservation Reserve - 6km2
Reforest largely private lands which would link together a series of conservation parcels from Silver Creek Conservation area to Belfoutain Conservation area along the Niagara Escarpment - 20km2

This last location, if added to slightly to include Forks of the Credit Provincial Park could create an area of 85km2 of conservation lands, almost as large as Rouge Park.
The Glen Major area would be similar in size.

Total land area: 72km2 give or take. - 7200ha - 18 million trees.

For every golf course you remove, add roughly 1km2

There are roughly 100+ courses in the GTA occupying 100km2 of land - 10000ha - or 25,000,000 trees worth of land. (to be fair, existing forests may be there, so you might be looking at 2/3 of that)

 

[Northern Light]

A story on how many of the newly planted trees in the redeveloped Regent Park are not doing well.

Days are numbered for trees in Toronto’s Regent Park

More than a decade into a revitalization project, residents grapple with the reality that their tree canopy is less healthy than before

www.theglobeandmail.com

From the story, we can discern the first mistake was incorrect species choice............again.

Tulip trees, and London Planes among the trees struggling most.

The latter have discussed here endlessly as the wrong choice for a Toronto street tree, period, full stop.

They are not salt tolerant. This was the species that so ignominiously failed on Bloor and on Queen's Quay.

Tulip trees are also intolerant of salt and of compaction. They can actually do well in Toronto in softscaped backyard or a natural setting; but not good as a street tree.

Compaction was also raised as issue in the story; for the boulevards I don't see why it should have been, if it was the answer has to be full excavation and putting the soil back in loose before planting.

I understand why that was an issue in the park space because its a larger area that people want flat for usability.

I'm not sure how I'd address that; You wouldn't want to rotortill an entire park before sodding, and it isn't necessary.

What might make sense, if the landscape plan shows trees in clusters/rows is to set up a single large tree-protection zone before any trees go in; prior to site-leveling.

That seems like it would be a nuisance; but developers (and the City) need reminding that trees don't want the soil flattened like a pancake.

Also, the City knows this; but nut and fruit-bearing trees really don't like fall transplants (most others are fine); and also fall transplants need to come later in the year.

I see them being done before Thanksgiving..........sigh. The point of early spring/late fall planting is the same, to move the tree when its in a dormant stage. That's important because the tree needs
fewer resources at that time and isn't straining to grow or put out fruit/nuts.

If there are green leaves all over the tree at or near full size, its not an ideal time to plant.

That doesn't mean you can't plant outside of ideal times, but the tree will require more care and help; should have a larger root system left in tact and failure will still be a bit more common.

 

[Northern Light]

Article from the The Star on the effort to protect what may be Toronto's oldest tree.

A majestic oak nearing 8 stories in height, in the backyard of a home not far from Sheppard + Weston.

I've seen this specimen...........tis a beauty...........you can't hug this tree........at least not by yourself.....something on the order of 15ft around.

City has placed conditional offer of purchase.

From The Star (night view of tree)

This is a daytime shot, in fall, from Toronto Storeys

From CBC, a close-up of the Trunk:

Article in The Star linked here:

It’s now up to Torontonians to protect city’s oldest tree

Celebrity gardener Mark Cullen and his wife Mary have kicked off fundraising with a $100,000 donation.

www.thestar.com

 

[Northern Light]

Some good news out of the latest Tree Canopy Report in 2018, done for the City of Toronto.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-141364.pdf

Tree Canopy is rising from a 26-28% range in 2008 to a 28-31% range in 2018. (goal is 40%)

Sadly, the bad news is that overall forest health has declined, in large part, due to invasive species.

We will have to wait for the operating budget to see if any new money will flow to the City's Ravine strategy.

 

[Johnny Au]

Some good news out of the latest Tree Canopy Report in 2018, done for the City of Toronto.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-141364.pdf

Tree Canopy is rising from a 26-28% range in 2008 to a 28-31% range in 2018. (goal is 40%)

Sadly, the bad news is that overall forest health has declined, in large part, due to invasive species.

We will have to wait for the operating budget to see if any new money will flow to the City's Ravine strategy.

Culling invasive species is the hardest part.

 

[TransitBart]

Some good news out of the latest Tree Canopy Report in 2018, done for the City of Toronto.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-141364.pdf

Tree Canopy is rising from a 26-28% range in 2008 to a 28-31% range in 2018. (goal is 40%)

Sadly, the bad news is that overall forest health has declined, in large part, due to invasive species.

We will have to wait for the operating budget to see if any new money will flow to the City's Ravine strategy.

1. Has the city lost any beeches to the beech blight going through Ontario?
1. Forty years after Dutch Elm, can elms be reintroduced successfully?

 

[44 North]

Some good news out of the latest Tree Canopy Report in 2018, done for the City of Toronto.

http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-141364.pdf

Tree Canopy is rising from a 26-28% range in 2008 to a 28-31% range in 2018. (goal is 40%)

Sadly, the bad news is that overall forest health has declined, in large part, due to invasive species.

We will have to wait for the operating budget to see if any new money will flow to the City's Ravine strategy.

So where is the 2018 Tree Canopy Study. The linked abridged report says it's attached as a pdf but it's not included. I'd be interested to see a map of our canopy and where it's increasing/deacreasing.

 

[yoshirocks702]

Here's a report on the elm trees, the city is planting them we got a valley forge elm street tree planted in front of our place a few years ago, with some good old fashioned H2O its growing well so far.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/elm-tree-resurgence-1.3710027

Number 36 in the brochure

https://www.toronto.ca/data/parks/pdf/trees/street-tree-brochure.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

So where is the 2018 Tree Canopy Study. The linked abridged report says it's attached as a pdf but it's not included. I'd be interested to see a map of our canopy and where it's increasing/deacreasing.

The full (non-technical) study is here: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-141367.pdf

The full technical report which has more of the info you're after is here: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-141368.pdf

 

[Northern Light]

A few graphs/info graphics etc. from the report to pique people's interest:

There's all sorts of other good stuff in there, but I don't want to copy/paste the entire report!

All images credit to The City of Toronto; and their consultants, as appropriate

KBM Resources Group
Lallemand Inc./BioForest
Dillon Consulting Limited
With Special Advisors Peter Duinker and James Steenberg, Dalhousie University