Councillors Lisa Muri and Jim Hanson are introducing a proposal urging the municipality to prioritize the protection and growth of the urban tree canopy. The councillors call for staff to develop an updated urban forest management plan and strengthen tree planting requirements in redevelopment areas. The council will discuss their report today.
Muri and Hanson’s proposal highlights the urban tree canopy’s critical role in the District, offering environmental and health benefits such as shade, stormwater capture, habitat protection, and cooling recreational areas. These benefits, they argued, are increasingly important as global temperatures rise due to climate change.
They note that a recent Metro Vancouver report revealed a troubling decline in the regional tree canopy, dropping from 32% in 2014 to 31% in 2020, while the area covered by roads and other impervious surfaces increased from 50% to 54%. With the provincial government’s new housing legislation pushing for greater housing density, they caution that the tree canopy could face further erosion.
“The District has important initiatives like the Urban Tree Canopy Project and the Tree Protection Bylaw, but we need to do more to safeguard this valuable resource for our community,” the councillors state in their report.
Their proposal also recommends formally designating areas currently used as parks but not officially classified as parkland to preserve these green spaces. They also emphasized the need to update tree bylaws and development requirements to ensure that newly planted trees in urban and redevelopment areas thrive, providing long-term benefits for the community.
They have requested that staff report with specific policy recommendations and benchmarks to help protect and expand this vital environmental asset.
YES Please. Every development, ‘improvement’, results in the loss of many, many green spaces and trees. People need to understand, every cry for more roads, houses, results in clear cutting more trees. We live here for the green and trees, NOT, concrete and asphalt. STOP developing the North Shore. We’ are full. The choice is, green and trees or concrete and asphalt.
YES Please. Every development, ‘improvement’, results in the loss of many, many green spaces and trees. People need to understand, every cry for more roads, houses, results in clear cutting more trees. We live here for the green and trees, NOT, concrete and asphalt. STOP developing the North Shore. We’ are full. The choice is, green and trees or concrete and asphalt.
Kudos to Lisa Muri and Jim Hanson for addressing the tree canopy erosion.
In my view the Lions Gate and Dllarton corridor with excessive concrete density
is ascetically poorly designed. Both these areas bordering the cap river to the west and inlet to
the east have not used our natural areas to enhance and soften the impact of major construction.
Perhaps an increased attention to further projects could ensure a more balanced approach to the environment.