City of Guelph looking to grow tree canopy with major annual spending

Trees line a residential street in Guelph.

The City of Guelph is looking at pushing back its target date to reach 40 per cent tree cover from 2031 to 2070 , and giving the initial nod to an additional estimated annual cost of $2.9 million per year to plant and maintain trees.

With the estimated annual cost requirement of $3.6 million versus a current annual budget of $687,000, an additional $2.9 million annually will be required to meet the 40 per cent tree canopy cover.

The estimated annual cost associated with achieving a 40 per cent tree canopy by 2070 is $3.6 million, of which $1.4 million is related to capital and $2.2 million is for the associated operating impacts.

This comes from a Guelph committee of the whole meeting held on Tuesday, in which a report notes the city needs to plant at least 3.6 million trees, covering a land area of 1,492 hectares, to achieve 40 per cent tree canopy cover by 2070.

To achieve this goal in the next 47 years, the city would need to plant around 76,000 trees annually.

This comes after the city noted its One Canopy Tree Planting Strategy’s (TPS) current goal of 40 per cent will not be achieved by 2031 with current planting efforts.

“The city’s current level of tree planting has an average capital cost of $275,000 per year for tree purchases. The operating costs associated with this investment is $412,000 annually for the ongoing maintenance required to establish newly planted trees,” the report reads.

With the estimated annual cost requirement of $3.6 million versus a current annual budget of $687,000, an additional $2.9 million annually will be required to meet the 40 per cent tree canopy cover.

The city noted there is enough land suitable for planting trees to support this 40 per cent coverage target, however, more than half of Guelph’s land available for tree planting lies in private ownership and efforts on the City’s land alone will not reach the target

“Land available on City-owned land suitable for planting trees and current planting efforts are not enough to achieve our targets,” the report reads. “Increasing planting efforts will require substantial investment, strategic planning, and collaboration with the community, residents, and private landowners.”

If action is not taken, the city warned there is a risk the tree canopy may decline.

“Managing growth of our city, increasing threats of climate change, pests and invasives, and decline in the quality and quantity of space suitable to plant trees will make it ever more difficult to grow trees in the city without a strategic approach for both replacing canopy losses and establishing new canopy,” the report reads.