Toronto's Trees: your guide to caring for urban green spaces

Toronto's trees are feeling the heat this summer, and tree experts are calling for everyone to keep an eye out for them.

"Everyone should be a kind of citizen arborist,"says Joseph Gillingham, owner of Heritage Tree Care.

Torontois home to an estimated10.2 milliontrees, according toUrbanForestry, which maintains the city'sforests and trees on public land.

Trees beautify the growing cityscape with their foliageand are"hugely important tothe infrastructure of thecity," says MatthewCutler,the manager forToronto's Parks and Recreation.

Culter says the city's canopy offers"strong health and economic benefits"

"Treescounterclimate change,saveenergy,preventfloodsand provide us with protection."

Given thosebenefits, Cutlersays Urban Forestryhas updated its strategy from "reactiveto proactive."

Arborists spend a lot of time pruning dead limbs from trees in parks andstreets,while plantingnew trees with thegoal to increase the canopy from "28 to 40 per cent" by year 2022,Cutlersays.

However, this summerresidential trees have struggled to get enough water and leaves are visibly dry. Drought conditionshit treessurrounded byconcrete that have littlesoilto absorb water oranchor their roots.

The trees on sidewalks andclose to roadwaysare most vulnerableto pollution from"people andcars," Cutler says.Evenpeople who chainbikes to treescause stress on trunks.

Urban Forestryrecommendswatering trees instead oflawns. Meanwhile, Cutler sayscity arborists aretesting structural soil technology in downtown parks. Cutler says the tools will reduce soil compaction andfreeup space forrootsto spread freely.

Disease alsostrikes trees city-wide, such as ash and elm. Cutler says emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle, will likely kill off 80 per centof Toronto's ash trees.

Arborists replace diseased trees with onesthat boost diversityand are more resilient to weather, disease and pollution.

Meanwhile,JosephGillinghamsayshis crew isbusy this summer visiting privatepropertiesafter awet spring led to "heavy canopies" and "lots ofbreakages."

His team untangles deadlimbs from telephone wires, makes space forcrowded treesandremoves hazardous branchesnear playgrounds, fences,driveways, entrances and sidewalks.

His crew specializes in pruning heritage trees,which lifts weighfrom the rest of the treeby opening the canopy.

Tree care for everyone

When it comes to monitoring tree health across the city,Cutlersays people should "share responsibility"and use "gut instinct" whena tree appears to be struggling.Anyone can report tree issues by phoning311.

Anyonewho spots a spacefor a new treenear their home on public land can check out the Get a Free Tree Programthrough Urban Forestry.

Gillinghamalsoshares somesignsanyone can monitor.

What to look for:

• First, check for dead branches, Gillingham says.
• Watch for structuralcracks, rotten growth andmushrooms. Allare signs of decay.
• Check if the tree is leaning more to one side.
• Does the foliage have strange colours,"dots, holes, blemishes on the leaves?"Those aresigns of disease.
• Look for branches near a roofthat can damage the eavestroughs and invite raccoons into the roof.

Basic pruning for everyone

Gillingham is happy to see peopletrying theirhand at pruning their ownfruit trees, which anyone can do usingonline resources.

You can also check forlow, dead brancheson spruce and pine trees that can be a risk for young kids playing outside, he says.

Prune a smallbranch "close to the tree, do not leave a stub," he says.

Even if a tree dies, you can giveit a second life

In cases where an entire dead tree must comes down, thereare creative ways to recycle the wood.

Gillinghamalsoruns a business where he transformswoodintoslabtables and rustic furniture.