Tree planting strategy

“Putting Down Roots for the Future” is the City of Ottawa’s 20-year strategic Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP). Ottawa’s urban forest includes all trees and their habitat on both public and private property. The plan was passed by Council in June 2017 and provides a comprehensive long-term vision and strategic direction for Ottawa’s urban forest.

The plan includes 26 recommendations and is broken down into five 4-year management periods. These management periods guide the City’s work towards achieving the vision, principles, and objectives for the urban forest.

Project overview

The UFMP is currently in its second management period, spanning from 2023-2027. Themes for the second management period are tree planting, tree maintenance, and community outreach and engagement. The feature project of the second management period is the creation of a Tree Planting Strategy for Ottawa. This project will help move the City towards the new urban canopy cover target of 40% by shifting the approach to tree planting from reactive to proactive. The Tree Planting Strategy will include:

• Evaluating existing planting programs

• Developing new planting programs to deliver tree planting in priority areas and beyond

• Creating a tool to prioritize tree planting in the areas of the city that need it the most

• Assessing funding opportunities

• Creating planting guidelines

• Better integration for tree planting considerations into City initiatives across the corporation

The equitable distribution of tree canopy will be a guiding principle applied to all work under the Tree Planting Strategy. This approach will address neighbourhood-level gaps in the urban forest by considering canopy cover, socio-economic factors, and health data when selecting locations for new plantings.

Public engagement

Staff want to hear from you! Public engagement and outreach on the Tree Planting Strategy are key to fostering a tree-aware culture in Ottawa.

This year, the City will roll out a series of surveys on tree planting in Ottawa. The first survey seeks input on current tree planting programs and ideas for future programs. The first survey includes some more detailed questions on the Commemorative Tree Program.

The survey will be available until April 15, 2024.

Next steps

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More information will be added to this page throughout the strategy development process.

Additional information

If you have any questions about this project, please contact urbantree@ottawa.ca