An Oldie But a Goodie: Protecting Mature Trees in Toronto

In 2020, City Council adopted a bold target of expanding our world-class tree canopy to 40% coverage by 2050 – a goal that we reaffirmed at last month's meeting. Trees are the lungs of our city, providing a broad range of ecosystem services with an estimated annual value of $55 million.

As important as it is to expand our canopy, we also need to protect the trees we already have. While each tree contributes to the health of our city, numerous studies have shown that many of the benefits provided by trees increase with age, with as much as 70% of their carbon storage accumulated in the last half of their lives.

Unfortunately, even with the City's strict Tree Protection By-laws, construction and development can often pose real threats to our mature tree canopy. In fact, a 2018 Tree Canopy Study commissioned by the City found an 85% correlation between parcels of land where building permits were issued and those exhibiting tree canopy loss.

Before I voted with City Council to approve the Updated Tree Canopy Target, I moved a motion directing City staff to investigate the correlation between building permits and tree canopy loss, and report back with options to address this issue. My motion also directed staff to consider decreasing the minimum trunk diameter required for protection under the Private Tree By-laws.