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In anticipation of that closing window, Atkinson notes that “we have to
balance the cost-e昀케cient execution (of tree plantings) with equity.” Some of
the city’s lower income neighbourhoods in the northeast and southeast have
less than 昀椀ve percent tree cover and because of that, he says “over 50 percent
of the (tree canopy) program is devoted to those areas.”
As Canada’s highest large city with the lowest amount of precipitation,
Atkinson matter of factly shares that “we’re virtually a desert,” and as such,
soil health and volume are always top of mind. “It’s no good if we install a tree
that only lasts 20 years,” which explains why “we’re trying to enhance the
growing environment with a 200-year perspective.”
And in the process as the city’s website shares “building a stronger
tree canopy that cools our neighbourhoods, cleans our air, supports
local wildlife and contributes to a more resilient city for future
generations.”
To make that happen, Atkinson says the city is planting 160-180,00
trees a year, with funding coming from the federal government’s two
billion trees program. However, now that the program is winding
down the city will have to seek alternative sources of funding after they
reach the current program’s planting ceiling of 929,000 trees.
Yet another reality for the city he says is “only about 30 per cent of the land is
public domain. So, we have to also look at the private realm to see where we
need trees and how do we encourage that?”
Greening through grass roots
One answer to that question that organizations like Green Communities
Canada (GCC) have come up with, is to enlist tree-loving troops in support
of community-based solutions ranging from Mini Forests to their
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