Climbers' Corner • Tree Academy
Monday • Tuesday • Wednesday
Sustainable Urban Forest Management Planning Using Criteria and Indicators
Summary
This presentation examines a successful model for Strategic Urban Forest Management planning based upon the application of key criteria and indicators. Through case studies of Ontario municipalities, the presentation demonstrates how municipal arborists and urban foresters can apply Criteria and Indicators to evaluate urban forest management in their own communities, and use the same to set strategic and operational objectives to optimize management.
Urban forest managers must be able to clearly identify where specific goals or targets have been met and when adaptations to management approaches appear to be necessary. Sustainable urban forest management therefore requires clearly defined targets or criteria and specific indicators of success. This presentation discusses how Criteria and Indicators (C&I) for success in sustainable urban forest management, first outlined by Clark et al. (1997), can be successfully applied as tools to improve Strategic Urban Forest Management planning.
The first part of the presentation reviews Clark et al.’s (1997) C&I for urban forest sustainability, which consider the vegetation resource, the community framework, and management approaches. It also presents updates and modifications to the original tables, developed by van Wassenaer and Kenney (2011) to improve their application in strategic planning.
The second part of the presentation discusses the development of a Strategic Urban Forest Management Plan for the Town of Oakville based upon/around Criteria and Indicators. The case study demonstrates how C&I were used to evaluate current management practices in Oakville and to determine what needed to be done to optimize the vegetation resource, the community framework and management to create a sustainable urban forest. This part also outlines the strategic planning framework used in the preparation of the Oakville Plan, and presents it as a model applicable to any size of community interested in sustainably managing its urban forest resources.
Conference Proceedings Documents
Presenters
Philip van Wassenaer, B.Sc. Environmental Sciences, Master of Forest Conservation, is the principal consultant for Urban Forest Innovations, Inc., which specializes in the preservation, enhancement, and management of the urban forest using a research- and science-based approach. He is an ISA Certified Arborist, member of ASCA , a Past President and Director of the Ontario Urban Forest Council from 1998 to 2007 and a 2009 recipient of the ISA True Professionals of Arboriculture Award.
Climbers' Corner • Tree Academy
Monday • Tuesday • Wednesday