The urban forest is a fairly new concept, but one that instantly resonates. It gives a name to the bigger picture, one that connects the trees on private lands, with street trees, trees on public lands, and trees in parks. You could say it lets us see the forest, for the trees.

My commitment to enhancing our urban environment is one of the reasons I’m running with Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver for a seat on Vancouver’s park board. I have been paying attention to trees in the urban environment for several decades.

In the 1990s, I was a founding member of a tree committee formed by a residents’ association. Our goal was to encourage local residents to be proactive in asking the city to plant street trees wherever there was an available spot. We hoped to have a large number of new trees established and growing in advance of the loss of our neighbourhood’s many mature trees reaching the end of their natural lives. We also provided information to our neighbours about the many benefits of trees (both environmental and economic) and encouraged them to be partners in caring for newly planted trees—watering them regularly during the summers for at least two years.

In the early 2000s, I helped found another tree committee in a new neighbourhood. This time, the focus of our effort was on encouraging neighbours to appreciate the magnificence of the large trees of the Pacific coast. We identified a number of heritage trees in our neighbourhood and provided a map so people could better identify and locate these special trees.

Between street trees and trees in parks, the Vancouver park board is the custodian of more than 60 percent of the urban forest in our city. The majority of the rest are on private property. A recent study by the TD Economics group, called “The Value of Urban Forests in Cities Across Canada”, noted that among five large Canadian municipalities located in what were once forested areas, the city of Vancouver, at 18 percent, has the lowest tree canopy coverage. This compares to just over 40 percent for both Halifax and Metro Vancouver, 27 percent for Toronto, and 20 percent for Montreal.

The relatively low level of canopy coverage in Vancouver concerns me. Trees are essential to the health and well-being of our community. Trees provide benefits well beyond their beauty. They enhance air quality, reduce water runoff, provide cooling, produce food, and capture carbon. Some of these things have a value that we can measure in monetary terms and some have value that go beyond measure. The net result in Vancouver, however, is that trees, by a factor of at least four, yield benefits well beyond the cost of planting and maintenance.

Vision Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan, developed through an extensive public consultation process, includes an ambitious target of planting 150,000 new trees by 2020. I am excited by this plan and will take a special interest in implementing it and being accountable for it. It will take all of us working together, however, to reach the targets. We will need whole neighbourhoods engaged in a partnership role with the city. What my experience has taught me is that neighbourhoods have this capacity and are ready and willing to take on a leadership role in caring for and nurturing our urban forest.

Mayor Gregor Robertson and the Vision Vancouver team have invested significant resources in making Vancouver the Greenest City, including making a commitment to growing a healthy urban forest. With my knowledge and passion for our natural environment, I hope to join the Vision team on the park board with your support this November 15.