Vancouver's Urban Forest Strategy

Urban Forest Strategy: in-depth

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  Progress and documents

  April 30, 2018 – The Park Board received the Urban Forest Strategy: 2018 update, for information, which was carried unanimously to guide the Park Board’s efforts to protect and manage Vancouver’s urban forest on public lands.

  • Download the Urban Forest Strategy presentation PDF file (4 MB)
  • Read the Urban Forest Strategy report PDF file (14 MB)

  April 16, 2014 – Council voted to approve the Urban Forest Strategy, which includes an update to the Protection of Trees Bylaw. Review the strategy to learn how we plan to protect, plant, and manage Vancouver's urban forest.

  • Download the Urban Forest Strategy presentation to Council PDF file (13 MB)
  • Read the news release

  Supporting documents

  Action item 1: Repeal of Section 4.5 of the Protection of Trees Bylaw policy report

  • Policy report PDF file (116 KB)

  Urban Forest Action Plan and protection of mature trees:

  • Park Board motion (October 15, 2012)
  • Council motion (October 16, 2012)
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  Goals and targets

  Urban Forest goals:

  • Protect the urban forest during development
  • Plant trees to grow the urban forest 
  • Manage trees for health and safety 
  • Engage citizens in the urban forest
  • Monitor the status and condition of the urban forest

  Urban Forest targets

  1. Plant 150,000 trees between 2010 and 2020
  2. Increase the urban forest canopy to 22% by 2050
  3. Restore or enhance 25 hectares of natural areas, including forests by 2020
  4. Double street tree density in below average blocks of the Downtown Eastside, Marpole, and other priority neighborhoods by 2030
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  Background on this project

  Work leading up to this project

  The Urban Forest Strategy started in 2011 as a priority item under the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. The strategy was supported through motions approved by the Park Board and Council in 2012.

  The City currently has plans, bylaws, and policies governing trees across different departments. The City and Park Board have identified a need for a dedicated and long term approach to sustain our urban forest, and to align with emerging trends and best practices.

  Identifying and reversing the decline of our urban forest

  While Vancouver boasts a spectacular urban forest, research commissioned by the Park Board shows that our urban forest is shrinking – even though we’ve planted thousands of trees in recent years on City boulevards, streets, and parks. Private property is the area with the most dramatic loss of trees, through the unintended consequences of allowed tree removal.

  When the number of trees diminishes, so do the benefits these trees provide. Our study found that 18% of Vancouver is covered by tree canopy compared to 22.5% nearly twenty years ago. These findings prompted our immediate action to address the loss of urban forest and to protect healthy trees.

  Better protecting healthy trees on private property

  Action #1 in the Urban Forest Strategy is an amendment to the Protection of Trees Bylaw that currently permits the removal of one tree per year from private property. The amendment will help stop unnecessary removal of healthy and mature trees on private property.