Ottawa’s first ever “tree equity analysis” has identified eight neighbourhoods where more greenery is urgently needed, and one councillor whose ward’s been flagged says it will help focus the city’s tree-planting efforts.
“I’m very happy that we will be addressing those areas,” said Alta Vista. Coun. Marty Carr, the vice-chair of the city’s environment and climate change committee.
“I think there’s a couple of opportunities on the horizon with new developments in some of those areas where we can more thoughtfully plan for trees, and encourage the community to plant as well.”
Tree equity is the concept that all the neighbourhoods in a city should have equal access to trees.
But many Canadian neighbourhoods with lower incomes and a higher proportion of racialized residents have fewer trees than their wealthier counterparts, according to research by Nature Canada.
Ottawa is no exception.
The 2017 tree canopy assessment found that every $10,000 drop in neighbourhood median income correlated with a four per cent decline in tree cover, according to last week’s memo to council from climate change and resiliency services director Nichole Hoover-Bienasz and parks maintenance and forestry services director Andrea Lanthier-Seymour.
Meanwhile, the benefits of tree cover include cooler temperatures and improved health outcomes.
Through the tree equity analysis, each neighbourhood was assigned a number between 0 and 100 that’s calculated by comparing the tree canopy cover to demographic, health and socioeconomic data about its residents.
A low score shows there aren’t enough trees to meet residents’ needs.
Priority and action neighbourhoods
Council directed staff to take on the analysis so the most inequitable neighbourhoods could be identified and supported, according to the memo.
The eight “priority” neighbourhoods are spread out across the city, with Somerset and Alta Vista ward each hosting two, according to last week’s memo. Of those eight, four are “short-term action areas,” meaning staff plan to start tree planting in 2026 and 2027.
Carr said she wasn’t surprised that two of the short-term action areas fell in her ward.
“Neither area has had any sort of consistent effort of having any sort of tree coverage whatsoever,” she said, noting that one includes a lot of industrial space where landscaping isn’t top of mind.
Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr said storms, disease and development have left her ward without sufficient tree canopy coverage. ‘Now we’ll have to really undertake concerted efforts to ensure that we have sufficient tree canopy cover in all neighbourhoods,’ she said. (Isabel Harder/CBC)
While there are many groups planting trees in Alta Vista, Carr said that work doesn’t usually happen in those two communities, which rank low on the neighbourhood equity index.
“We don’t have a lot of community associations because the folks in those neighbourhoods have other other things to worry about,” she said.
“That’s why the tree equity report is so important, because not every community can focus on this.”
Overall canopy coverage
City staff will now work with the local councillors, community groups, social services and residents in the eight priority areas so that trees go where they are “most wanted and needed,” the memo explained.
That neighbourhood-level work is critical, said Paul Johanis, chair of the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital.
“It’s really access or proximity to the trees very locally that provides direct benefits, health benefits,” he said. “So understanding and measuring what’s happening at that level is equally as important.”
‘In Somerset ward, can you really get [coverage] to 40 [per cent]? Maybe, I don’t know. But you should be working very hard to move it up from 14 [per cent] to something better,” said Paul Johanis, chair of the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
Johanis noted that the citywide goal is 40 per cent tree canopy cover, but many wards fall well below that threshold, based on the canopy coverage report released alongside the tree equity analysis.
That report began in 2017 when Ottawa’s urban forest management plan was adopted. Based on the latest findings, Johanis and Carr acknowledged the city is lagging on reaching its goals.
“We did get a couple of years behind in the city, certainly. Because [of] the amount of trees that were lost [in the derecho], staff had to focus on that,” Carr said, referring to the devastating storm that tore through the city in 2022.
“And if these reports were delayed a little bit because of that, the work that needed to be done on tree canopy coverage and tree equity was delayed. So we’re seeing that work now.”
As of 2022, the citywide canopy cover in Ottawa “remains stable” at 36 per cent, according to the report.
In urban Ottawa, canopy cover declined between 2017 and 2022 from 21.5 per cent to 20.6 per cent, though the report notes that drop “may be within the margin of error.”
Losses were substantial in parts of the city where land was being cleared for construction and infill development, Hoover-Bienasz and Lanthier-Seymour wrote.
The reason the urban tree canopy cover did not decrease more is because of reforestation efforts and the existing trees growing bigger, they said.
In rural Ottawa, canopy cover rose over the same period from 36 per cent to 39 per cent, according to the report.
Snapped and uprooted trees in Pinhey Forest on Aug. 29, 2022, more than three months after the devastating derecho windstorm on May 21, 2022. (Alexander Behne/CBC)
“This is a positive outcome given the significant challenges over this period, including the impacts of the 2022 derecho and other major storm events [like the 2018 tornadoes], ongoing climate-related stressors, and increasing development pressure from intensification to meet Ottawa’s housing and growth targets,” it said.
City staff will present their findings from both reports to the environment and climate change committee on Sept. 16.
READ | Ottawa’s tree canopy update and tree equity analysis