Thursday November 21, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
After more than a year of receiving public input and offering detailed presentations, the City of Langford has approved their first-ever Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP).
Langford council approved the UFMP at their council meeting on Monday, November 18. Prior to approval they received a lengthy verbal report from the consultant (Diamond Head Consulting based out of Vancouver) and another round of public input (both in the room and online).
City of Langford Councillor Mark Morley as Acting Mayor chaired the November 18 meeting. Councillors attending in person that evening were Kimberley Guiry, Colby Harder, Lillian Szpak and Mary Wagner.
Vision, target and goals:
During the rapid development of more housing and commercial areas in Langford during 2008 to 2022 there was not too much attention paid to urban forest management other than urban landscaping and leaving some sections of natural forest untouched.
Now the UFMP details the current extent and condition of Langford’s urban forest and establishes a strategic framework to meet the vision, target, and goals for Langford’s urban forest over the next 25 years.
The City says their UFMP was informed by public feedback and urban forestry best practices.
Regardless of how extensive the public input seemed it was dependent on who got the message and who showed up for in-person sessions. As for urban forestry best practices, some seemed out of step with the present character that Langford, in ways that people may find unappealing much after the fact (e.g. limiting the number of maple trees on the landscape).
Mid-way through UFMP development the consultant seemed reluctant to identify any particular trees as notable or worth specified protection. Langford is nicely populated with trees that people find iconic or in-character for Langford including Douglas Fir and Arbutus.
Langford does not yet have a designated tree as the emblematic tree of Langford. Perhaps this discussion will come now that a UFMP is in place, but it seems to have missed a timely opportunity for discussion.
UFMP details:
The UFMP includes 14 strategies, 65 actions, 16 priority actions, and seven quick start actions for the City to implement in order to meet the broad aspirations of the Plan to:
- Achieve a balance between urban growth and enhancing Langford’s urban forest.
- Ensure every resident has equitable access to the many benefits provided by the urban forest.
- Maintain healthy urban forests that can withstand and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The actions are focussed on sustaining the urban forest through strategic long-term community planning, planting more trees in low equity and low canopy areas, enhancing maintenance practices and planting standards to maximize urban forest benefits to the community, prioritizing sustainable and evidence-based urban forest management, and leveraging opportunities to develop community partnerships and capacity to achieve better urban forest outcomes across the city.
Quick start:
At the November 18 council meeting, Council advanced two of the seven quick start actions of the UFMP. Those will be the highest priority actions that will have a significant impact on the success of the UFMP, the City says.
The first action is the creation of a new City Arborist position which seems in-step with the additional attention to trees now in Langford.
The second action is the implementation of a Tree Protection Bylaw.
Tree bylaw:
The Tree Protection Bylaw received first, second, and third readings during the November 18 council meeting, and is intended to replace the interim bylaw that has been in place for the last two years.
The Tree Protection Bylaw has been designed to balance the protection of tree resources with the regulation of private property.
The design and structure of the Bylaw reflects tree bylaw best practices, addresses gaps in the administration of the interim bylaw, and incorporates community priorities and public feedback.
Background:
Phase One of the UFMP public engagement began in November 2023, seeking community input and insights to inform the vision and strategic directions of the draft UFMP.
Phase Two engagement was initiated in July 2024, seeking further community feedback on the proposed draft plan before its final presentation to Council for adoption.
===== RESOURCES:
City of Langford Urban Forest Management Plan
===== RELATED:
- Langford seeks public input on 25-year urban forest management plan (August 16, 2024)
- Langford urban forest management public engagement in final phase (July 29, 2024)
- Online survey to Nov 27 on Langford urban forest management (November 26, 2023)
- Open house: Langford seeks public input on urban forest management (November 14, 2023)
- Langford seeks public input on urban forest management (November 3, 2023)
- NEWS SECTIONS: LANGFORD | ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY