On Friday November 2nd I had attended the annual Ontario Urban Forest Council conference at the historic Heintzman House in the City of Markham with the theme of Climate Change, Collaboration and Context.
It was attended by members of academia, municipalities, landscape architects, urban forestry consultants, tree services, environmental non- governmental organizations that all share an interest in urban forest issues.
The theme this year centred around the issue of climate/weather change and how and what to expect related to urban tree issues as we have to adapt our practices in anticipation of the expected changes in weather.
Climate adaptation is a concern of municipalities/conservation authorities as they bear the brunt of weather events and have to plan for more weather extremes as well as an extended growing season.
A sense of species migration and more prevalent insect/disease movement is being exacerbated by weather and human influence as presented.
Overall it was great to see such a diverse and committed group of attendees looking forward to plan for, maintain and prepare our urban forests for the future generations.