Banff’s trees are getting a big boost.
Banff’s urban forest is under pressure for many reasons, including mountain pine beetle infestation, forest health and age, given many trees are at least 80 years old.
Town council unanimously agreed to spend $60,000 a year for the next three years to sustain and rejuvenate its urban forest, but also approved an additional $29,000 for 2014.
“Working with trees is not short-term. It’s a very, very long-term process,” said Councillor Leslie Taylor.
“You can’t find yourself with too few trees in the community and at that time flip a switch and fix the situation. You have to be thinking how you want your community 50 years from now.”
About one quarter of Banff’s urban area is covered with some form of forest, including natural and undisturbed areas, traditional parks and trees planted along roadsides, especially Banff Avenue.
Town officials say trees are beautiful, of course, but they are also important as wildlife habitat and for atmosphere purification, shade, privacy and recreational use.
“Trees are a long-term investment over many years,” said Coun. Chip Olver in support of spending the money on Banff’s urban forest. “We have to budget for this asset.”
Banff’s urban forest management plan was created, in part, to deal with concerns about the health of Banff’s trees during redevelopment of Central Park and after hundreds of trees around town were lost in windstorms.
The Town has already spent $450,000 from 2009 to 2011 on many aspects of the plan, including removing hazardous trees deemed a priority and planting more than 500 trees.
Town administration has now come up with a 15-year urban forest plan, beginning January 2012 and continuing to December 2027.
The plan for the next five years involves mapping both tree plantings and tree removals to keep an up-to-date canopy calculation, plus mapping of weed infestations and treatments annually of these areas.
They will also work towards replacing a tree any time a tree is removed, using half of the materials budget for buying or propagating native plants. The Banff Avenue median entrance poplars are to be replaced in 2018-2020.
Coun. Stavros Karlos voiced support for the funding.
“We’ve all seen through a number of natural events the importance of being on top of this,” he said. “This spreads the costs over a much longer time frame and I’m much more comfortable with this.”
