Blog

  • Climate funding Victoria’s Centennial Square and the Sequoia tree.

    Climate funding Victoria’s Centennial Square and the Sequoia tree.

    At the January 23rd Council of the Whole Meeting, Councillor Matt Dell shared his experiences of tree removal and replacement regarding the need to advance a city, thus emphasizing the need for context in urban planning. “I grew up in a farming family in the South Okanagan, where trees are cut down and replanted every Read more

  • Historical Maps

    Historical Maps

    The urban area of the City of Victoria is the Garry oak ecosystem (GOE)–– a fact often left out of discussions on the urban forest. The Garry oak ecosystem, or Kwetlal food system in the ləkwW əŋən language, has been shaped by Indigenous agroecological management for thousands of years and emerged after the glacial retreat around 10,000 Read more

  • Council Member Motion – Urban Forest Canopy

    Council Member Motion – Urban Forest Canopy

    Council Member MotionFor the Committee of the Whole Meeting of April 3rd, 2025 COTW Video segment:https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=f613a2e9-ce96-43b6-aca8-b281afcdaf54&Agenda=Merged&lang=English&Item=23&Tab=attachments Motion (.pdf)https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=101687 BACKGROUND: A significant value for Victorians is nature, our climate, our hills, our natural green areas, and our urban forest. Section 4, Blue Green Networks of the 2025 DRAFT OCP, includes a brief description of the City’s Read more

  • City of Victoria’s 2019-2023 LiDAR vegetation change detection analysis

    City of Victoria Tree Canopy  Using LiDAR data to Measure the City’s Tree Canopy. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology uses laser pulses to create detailed 3D models of the environment. The City of Victoria’s Urban Forest Canopy Analysis from 2019 to 2023 was posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2025. Individual data points create point Read more

  • Presentation to Council- Urban Forest and Natural Assets, City of Victoria

    Presentation to Council- Urban Forest and Natural Assets, City of Victoria

    Presentation: Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 6:30 P.M. Council Chambers E. Request to Address Council E.7 Urban Forest and Natural Assets (LiDAR) update for Draft OCP “Victoria 2050” Video Link: https://pub-victoria.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=22a0de46-6b14-4887-83fe-114fa79ced8d&Agenda=Merged&lang=English&Item=29&Tab=attachments Documents: The City of Victoria has collected urban tree canopy data over multiple years by to perform ongoing measurements of its urban forest canopy. The City has outsourced urban tree canopy monitoring Read more

  • VCAN Community Mapping Project

    VCAN Community Mapping Project

    A conversation about the distribution of biodiversity within and between the City of Victoria’s neighbourhoods. To complement the City’s excellent inventory of all trees on public land, the Victoria Community Association Network (VCAN) has involved each neighbourhood in an inventory of Garry oaks and other elements of biodiversity on private property. Each neighbourhood developed their Read more

  • Calls for saving the Sequoia Mount as the City of Victoria Council faces increasing public scrutiny over a lack of transparency and signs of potential significant inconsistencies on the matter. 

    Originally posted at CRD WATCH https://crdwatch.ca/2025/02/09/calls-for-saving-the-sequoia-mount-as-the-city-of-victoria-council-receives-growing-public-scrutiny-over-a-lack-of-transparency-and-among-indications-of-what-may-be-gross-inconsistencies-on-the/ By Mary Fowles and Jennifer ButtonFeb 9, 2025 In July 2024 Victoria City Council approved (6 to 3) (1) a design (2) for Centennial Square which included the destruction of the square’s Sequoia tree.   Following the decision, several citizens wrote to the Mayor and Council to express their concerns. Read more

  • Dear Developer: Invitation template

    Document published through the VCAN Community Mapping Project (Appendix “Dear Developer: Invitation template”) The scale of land use changes in the City of Victoria created a discussion by the VCAN Mapping Team on how start a conversation about the Garry oak ecosystem with market actors like builders and developers. The City of Victoria’s Tree Protection Read more

  • Open Letter to Matt Dell and City of Victoria Councillors about the Urban Forest

    Dear Councillor Matt Dell, This letter serves as an open invitation for you to consider some of the unique community forest qualities in the territory that you now call home. The urban landscape of Victoria is characterized by Kwetlal, known also as the Garry oak ecosystem (GOE). This is a crucial detail often overlooked in Read more

  • BC Municipalities – Tree Protection Bylaw

    Colwood (2022) Central Saanich (2021) Esquimalt (2022) Highlands (2001) Langford (2024) Metchosin (2013) North Saanich (2022) Oak Bay (2020) Saanich (2019) Victoria (2021) View Royal (2022) BC Tree Protection Bylaws in British Columbia, Raincoast Conservation Foundation Read more