April 24, 2023 — Press release from the City of Burlington
The City of Burlington has been recognized by the Arbour Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Foundation of the United Nations as a Tree City of the World.
This is the first time the City of Burlington has been recognized for this prestigious status for leading the way in urban and community forestry.
To earn Tree Cities of the World recognition, a city must demonstrate its commitment by meeting five program standards: establish responsibility for the care of trees, set rules to govern the management of forests and trees, maintain an updated inventory or assessment of local tree resources, allocate resources for a tree management plan, and hold an annual celebration of trees to educate residents.
In recognition of this designation, a Tree City of the World flag has been raised at City Hall.
We are thrilled to be recognised with this designation. We’re also nearing completion of our Urban Forestry Master Plan and our Woodlot Management Strategy which will guide our future urban forestry decisions on how to best manage and enhance our forest assets. The Forestry team is working diligently on a daily basis to protect our trees from unnecessary removal, pests and diseases as well as striving to plant more trees.
Enrico Scalera, Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry
About the Tree City of the World program
The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Both organizations came together in 2019 to found Tree Cities of the World. The program is a global effort to recognize cities and towns committed to ensuring that their urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed, and duly celebrated.
Planting trees in a metropolitan area comes with many benefits beyond the recognition of this program. Increasing the number of trees in a community can help reduce costs for energy, stormwater management, and erosion control. In addition, the program provides a network of like-minded city leaders in urban forestry to celebrate and share best practices to cultivate greenery in the community. Tree Cities of the World aims to create more green spaces in urban areas by recognizing the cities that do it well.
More information on the program is available at treecitiesoftheworld.org/.
Trees are important to people, no matter what country they are from or what language they speak. We all want to live in a city that is healthy, resilient, and beautiful – trees serve as a common language to make that possible. Being recognized in the Tree Cities of the World program means that your city is committing to go above and beyond to define trees as critical green infrastructure for your citizens.
Dan Lambe, Chief Executive of the Arbor Day Foundation
About the Arbor Day Foundation
Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. With a focus in communities and forests of greatest need, the Foundation — alongside its more than 1 million members, supporters and valued partners — has helped to plant nearly 500 million trees in more than 50 countries. Guided by its mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees, the Arbor Day Foundation is committed to unlocking the power of trees to help solve critical issues facing people and the planet. Learn more about the impact of the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.
For more information on forestry in Burlington, visit burlington.ca/forestry.
