Urban trees: ‘We Love City Trees. Until They Land on Us’ – Dec. 8, 2022 Tyee article
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An excerpt from the above-noted article reads:
Long before European settlers colonized Vancouver, the region was a dense rainforest that was home to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. By the 1800s, though, European settlers had colonized Vancouver and much of North America.
The colonizers used a European approach to construct Vancouver, says David Tracey, an environmental writer and founder of Tree City, a non-profit organization that has helped plant thousands of trees in Vancouver’s urban forest.
Trees were cut to make space for streets and buildings.
“You cut down all the trees and then you build new housing developments,” Tracey said. “Then you call streets by tree names — Arbutus, Yew, all those ones — you try to replace the forest itself with names.”
In Europe, the concept of planting street trees dates back to the 18th century when France and England tested the idea to reconnect people to nature. Tracey said that the English in particular had a fascination with plants and frequently travelled to other countries to gather plants to see if they would grow in Europe.
A Dec. 8, 2022 CBC article is entitled: “‘The fight is on to protect urban wildlife in Montreal’: Local ecologists say city green spaces need to be a habitat for native species and a sponge for rainwater.”
An excerpt reads:
Volunteers like Breier are vital to Montreal’s urban biodiversity, according to local ecologists who hope the attention from the city hosting COP15 this month will lead to the expansion of more green spaces on its territory, and more citizen involvement in maintaining them.
They want officials around the world to understand the importance of supporting wildlife — not just outside of cities, but within them as well.