Tunnels made by the Dutch elm beetle in the cambium layer under the bark.
The Emerald ash borer.
Kelowna wildfires in which homes burnt in the “urban- rural interface” led to a new national Fire Smart program of protecting homes in areas of wildfire vulnerability. A recent development is the creation last year by the University of British Columbia’s forestry faculty of an undergraduate program in urban forestry. It was not until the early 1990s that Calgary hired its first
Dutch elm bark beetle.
in the burgeoning urban areas coincided closely with the industrial revolution where society was confronting a new reality — the arrival of leisure time. Stanley Park was founded in Vancouver in 1886 on land
owned by the federal government. The 405 hectare forested park has a fascinating history of park use, logging and natu- ral storm activity. Regional Urban Forest History
The urban forests of British Columbia display a diversity of
ecosystems. Ironically, the gigantic trees that B.C. is famous for were not always seen as a feature worth preserving; reportedly there were many public celebrations throughout the 1800’s in Vancouver for the large trees felled to make way for the expanding city. Early 20th century British Columbia placed the planting of street trees largely in the hands of the burgeoning parks departments. It was not until the 1990 Clouds of change report that the city began to implement a true urban forest program, leading to Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 initiative. The same trend was followed in most other B.C. municipalities including Surrey and Victoria. Prince George, a northern community which expanded into natural forests of lodgepole pine, had to deal with moun- tain pine beetle which began killing trees in 2002. The 2003
76 • Fall 2016
forester. Today, thanks to advanced irrigation and strict tree protection measures, the canopy cover of Calgary is healthier than it has ever been. Other weather events (flooding, 2013; snow, 2014) continue to affect its tree populations. Profes- sionals are now also engaged in Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Leduc, Canmore and Banff. Orga- nizations like STOPDED are vigilant in educating the public in the risks of introducing Dutch elm disease. (Alberta has been fortunate to remain DED-free for many years however; in 1998 one elm tree in Wainwright was confirmed to have disease. The tree was immediately removed and burned. It is believed that firewood brought into the province was the source of infection. Alberta is still DED-free.) Urban forests moving forward
Recently, there has been progress in advancing urban
forests. By 1990, all of Canada was covered by one of five chapters of the International Society of Arboriculture. In 1992 the government created Tree Plan Canada/National Community Tree Foundation (now Tree Canada) to engage Canadians in the care of their urban forests. An early action was to organize the first Canadian Urban Forest Confer- ence in Winnipeg in 1993. From 1994 to 1999 the Univer- sity of Toronto maintained the Urban Forest Centre under its director, Dr. Andy Kenney. In 2000, “urban forestry” was defined the Ontario Professional Foresters Act. A key advance was the integration of urban forests in the fifth national forest strategy in 2003, leading to the formation of the Canadian Urban Forest Network (2004) and the Cana- dian Urban Forest Strategy (2008).
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