Urban Forestry

Beaumont’s urban forest is a valuable asset providing environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits.

Urban Forest Management Strategy

The City of Beaumont has 9,300 trees (and counting) in our inventory. Throughout the year, our crews and contractors engage in a variety of urban forestry tasks that are intended to manage, enhance, and keep our urban forest healthy for future generations.

Beaumont’s Urban Forest Management Strategy was adopted on February 21, 2023. Beaumont’s urban forest is a valuable asset that provides environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits. This strategy will provide a framework for effective management, maintenance, and improvement of a healthy tree canopy as the community grows. The strategy was developed collaboratively with input from the public and various stakeholders and it is an action plan that includes measurable targets to grow and enhance the forest over the next 20 years.

Resources

Check out Beaumont’s Urban Forest Management Strategy [pdf]…

Urban forestry management tasks

Tree Planting Tree Removal Tree Fertilization and Watering
  • Line locating and exposing
  • Excavating and planting
  • Staking, placing rodent protection and mulching newly planted trees
  • Watering and fertilizing
  • Identifying dead, damaged or disease-ridden trees
  • Removing and cleaning up identified trees
  • Marking stumps for future stump grinding activities
  • Stump grinding and seeding with grass or placing a new tree in the same location
  • Injecting water with a probe into the root zone of the tree during dry periods of the year
  • Injecting liquid fertilizer with a probe into the root zone of trees to help promote canopy and root growth
  • In specific high-traffic areas, drilling into the dirt and packing the holes with vertical mulch and fertilizer

Tree Pruning Tree Surgery Tree Protection/Guards
  • Deadwooding (removing dead or dying branches from the canopy)
  • Obstruction pruning (pruning to clear conflicts with buildings, fences, roadways, signage, walkways or safe line of sight)
  • Structural pruning (pruning to promote strong structure, limit crossovers and to growth habits of specific species)
  • Disease mitigation (pruning that targets diseased branches)
  • Sucker pruning (pruning water sprouts or suckering coming from the base of a tree or the root system)
  • Bolting tree branch unions that are splitting apart
  • Cabling portions of the canopy to assist canopy structures with excessive loading
  • Placing barriers around the base of the stem to protect it from mechanical damage
  • Building a prop to support a lower branch from breaking away from a tree
  • Placing plastic or wire cages around young trees to protect them from mechanical damage and rodent feeding
  • Placing fencing and/or other physical barriers around existing trees during construction activities to limit root compaction and mechanical wounding

Shrub Shaping Surface Mulching Storm Damage and Clean-up
  • Smaller bedding shrubs that are sheared for shape and to contain growth
  • Placing new wood chips or topping up existing beds for moisture retention and weed control
  • Placing wood chips around newly planted trees for moisture retention and to provide a visible gap for the main stem
  • Pruning or removing trees damaged by storm events
  • Cleaning up and chipping branches that are laying on the ground as a result of a storm event

Pest and Pathogen Control Woodland Management Tree Inventory and Assessment
  • Spray application of insecticide, fungicide or dormant oil to help battle problematic pests in the community
  • Biological control (the introduction of an organism that will kill or limit the damage of a known tree disease)
  • Cultural practice (performing field operations that can help mitigate or thwart the spread of tree disease, such as, removing susceptible hosts, pruning infected branches, creating an undesirable environment  for known pests to inhabit)
  • Tree injections (used on pests that are inside the wood or tissues of a host tree)
  • Removing dead or dying trees in natural aspen stands 
  • Removing snow loaded trees on the edge of stands
  • Providing wildlife trees and habitat in larger stands
  • Ensure adequate amounts of trees remain along canals for bank stability and drainage
  • Ensuring edge trees next to buildings and paths are in good health and are not prone to wind throw
  • Identifying individual trees and species as well as gathering some general tree health information
  • Adding new trees that the City has taken over from the developers.
  • Identifying woodland areas within the City of Beaumont