Toronto's tree-wealth tool a first

Idea behind analyzer is that all neighbourhoods should have access to canopy benefits

- PATTY WINSA

In Toronto, neighbourhood equity is typically viewed through a socioeconomic lens, dividing us into haves and have-nots.

But there’s another factor that contributes to our wealth trees.

And a new online tool that maps tree equity throughout the city, weighing canopy cover against a number of indicators such as poverty, climate and health, shows that many of the factors that divide us socio-economically are the same when it comes to the canopy.

“In neighbourhoods with higher poverty rates or more residents of colour, there is almost 40 per cent less tree coverage than more affluent or more white areas of Toronto, according to data analyzed by American Forests, the non-profit that created the online tool, called TESA Tree Equity Score Analyzer in conjunction with the city.”

The tool, the first of its kind in Canada, is not just for municipal use. It is free and publicly accessible.

And because studies by the city show that the potential to expand the canopy is greatest on private land — over which the city has no access Toronto forestry staff hope grassroots groups, or commercial and residential property owners, will use it to plant trees in areas with lower scores. The lower the score, the greater the priority.

“This is why the tool is so powerful,” said Connie Pinto, Toronto’s supervisor of forestry policy and standards, “because it helps you take control of private land to lift all because the private-public ownership is about 50-50 in the city,” she said.

“I would think that a community group — a residents association for example — certainly, a campaign to improve tree canopy in their neighbourhood, coming from their own neighbour, has better traction than urban forestry coming in and saying ‘we would like to do this,’ ” said Pinto. “And that’s really the strength that it’s having in the U.S.”