For immediate release: 23 Sept 2007

Contact: Terry Collins, 416-538-8712; 416-878-8712

Focus on Urban Trees as Canada Marks

National Forest Week: Sept. 23 to 29

From crowded cities to spacious countryside, events across the country will celebrate the role and importance of their forests during National Forest Week, Sept. 23-29.

And the forests being celebrated aren’t all the usual suspects -- vast tracts of wilderness filled with towering evergreens. Increasingly, they include urban forests as municipalities devote greater resources to tree planting for reasons ranging from esthetics to better water and air for city dwellers.

Indeed, Oakville, Ontario, in the industrial core of the nation, has been designated the Forest Capital of Canada for 2007, to be officially celebrated Sept. 24.

“As it marks its 150th anniversary, the Town of Oakville offers a model of how urban areas should cultivate and protect their trees,” says David Lemkay, General Manager of the Canadian Forestry Association (CFA), which sponsors National Forest Week and the annual designation of the Forest Capital of Canada, recognizing a community or region that demonstrates stewardship and sound practices toward sustainable forest development, management and conservation.

Examples of Oakville’s leadership include:

·  Challenging citizens to achieve a target of over 40 per cent tree canopy cover (the amount of surface area covered by overhanging trees and shrubs, needed to improve air quality significantly in densely populated urban areas);

·  First Canadian municipality with a Certified Forest designation for Iroquois Shoreline Woods Park;

·  First Ontario municipality to complete a community-wide Urban Forest Effects Model (UFORE) analysis;

·  One of Canada’s leading municipalities in terms of forest planning and stewardship. In August, urban foresters from across Canada journeyed to Oakville to study the city’s leading-edge practices.


The need for city trees

Trees in urban areas trap air pollutants and particulates – by one estimate, a large, healthy tree can absorb as many as 7,000 dust particles per litre of air. The same tree can absorb 75 per cent of the carbon dioxide generated by the average car and provide a day’s oxygen for up to four people.

Trees buffer noise and provide wildlife habitat. Their shade cool cities in summer, reduce wind and aid transpiration. During times of heavy rainfall, they keep excessive water from overwhelming storm drains and their roots prevent erosion.

Property values are higher in well-treed neighbourhoods. By protecting the streets from harmful ultraviolet rays, trees help city street asphalt last 10 to 15 years longer without repairs. And finally, trees improve the look of any city, giving urban dwellers a visual break from concrete and glass. They have even been proved to help hospital patients recover from illness more quickly, thus reducing health care costs.

Why forests matter to everyone

“The economic importance of forest products to our economy cannot be overestimated,” says Mr. Lemkay.

More than 300 Canadian communities rely on the forest sector for their economic and social well-being. Close to 1 million Canadians work in some part of the forest industry directly or indirectly, the nation’s single largest net exporter, adding more than $30 billion to Canada’s balance of trade annually – almost twice the contribution of the next largest sector. Without its forests products, Canada’s trade balance would have been in a deficit situation eight times in the last decade.

Canada’s rural forests provide the same services as urban forests – only more so. They provide wood and wood products. They moderate the harmful effects of climate change. And they provide habitat for plants, animals and birds.

The Canadian Boreal Initiative estimates 1.65 to 3 billion birds breed each year in North America’s boreal forest region, land birds accounting for 97 percent of that total. Approximately 30 percent of all land birds, 30 per cent of all shorebirds and 38 percent of all waterfowl that breed in the United States and Canada do so in the boreal.

Like many things today worldwide, all of Canada’s forests are in transition. Indeed, this year’s National Forest Week theme is “Tradition and Transition.”

In response to consumer demands for more plant-based products, forests now generate more non-timber forest products such as maple syrup, wild berries, mushrooms and medicinal products. Many of these are harvested on a viable commercial basis.

But forests are also vulnerable to many threats. The adverse effects of climate change, pests and disease and wildfire are among the greatest perils.

And the recent change in the value of the loonie – surging against the dollar of our biggest trading partners, the Americans, though not against other currencies – creates uncertainty for wood and other forest product exporters.

Education key to future forests health

Helping Canadian students appreciate forests and making forestry-related careers attractive to young people are among the CFAs top priorities. Through classroom teaching modules for educators, it strives to alert students to the robust and vita role of protection, management and renewal of the forest resource. CFA continues a century-long history of reaching out to Canadians to support the need to maintain a high level of forestry expertise in Canada. CFA’s many programs of education and outreach have helped introduce hundreds of thousands of Canadian youth to the importance of forests.

Part of the message involves making clear that forest professionals work in cities and towns as well as rural areas and in a variety of disciplines to manage, harvest, develop and protect Canada’s forest resources.

National Forest Week

“Sir Wilfrid Laurier had it right 100 years ago,” says Mr. Lemkay. To quote the former Prime Minister: ‘We must interest the nation, the individual, the farmer, the settler, the lumberman, everybody in the great work which is involved in forestry’.”

The week originated in 1920 as Forest Fire Prevention Week and evolved into National Forest Week in 1967, reflecting growing appreciation of the environmental, human, economic, urban and rural dimensions of forest resources.

Easy ways to celebrate:

·  Plant a tree. Easy instructions can be obtained from any garden centre or online at www.treecanada.ca

·  Walk in the woods and, with the help of a guidebook, identify as many trees as you can. This is a great family-friendly activity.

·  Adopt a newly planted or neglected tree, find out its species and take good care of it.

·  Identify with your children the surprising number of things in your home made from wood or wood products.

·  Learn about organizations that support sustainable forest management (enter “Canada forestry” into any search engine).

·  Tour a forest sector industry or processing site.

·  Find out how to prevent forest fires.

·  Contact a provincial or territorial forestry association for teaching materials.

·  Get involved in a local watershed or forest stewardship group.

Most important of all, Canadians are invited to contribute to Canada’s National Forest Strategy (http://nfsc.forest.ca/faq_e.htm), a national leadership plan designed to foster broad community commitment and action.

Supporters include governments, aboriginal peoples, timber-based industries, tourism operators, foresters and many others. The voice and involvement of all Canadians is needed.

Canadian Forestry Association

An active partner in the National Forest Strategy, the non-profit CFA is Canada’s oldest conservation organization. Since 1900, it has advocated for the protection and wise use of Canada’s forest, water and wildlife resources through public awareness and education programs. By promoting sustainable forest development, management and conservation, the CFA helps shape the future of Canada’s forest and nurtures its economic and environmental health.

For more information: www.canadianforestry.com

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