Urban Forest Strategy

The Urban Forest Strategy (UFS) is a plan to ensure the long-term health of Hamilton’s urban forest through preservation and planting. It is a community-developed vision with actions to guide us in maintaining and growing the urban forest.

What is the Urban Forest?

Hamilton's urban forest includes all publicly and privately-owned trees and supporting vegetation in the urban area.

The urban forest includes more than Hamilton's natural areas. Individual trees and groups of trees along streets, in backyards, parks, and commercial areas within Hamilton's urban boundary are also part of the urban forest.

Why is a Strategy Needed?

We all know that trees are important. Trees are often called “green infrastructure” because they provide many valuable ecosystem services. These services include improving air and water quality, mitigating and controlling flooding, beautifying neighbourhoods, reducing energy use, providing habitat for wildlife, and providing recreation opportunities.

However, pressures on trees are increasing, due to pests and diseases, drought and severe weather from climate change, development, and invasive species.

Trees live a long time and need to be carefully planned for and managed. That is why Hamilton developed a comprehensive plan for its urban forest that was approved by Council in June of 2023.

A lot went into the development of the Hamilton’s first Urban Forest Strategy; data was gathered to understand the current state of the City's urban forest and a review of existing by-laws, guidelines and policies was conducted. City staff met with, and gathered feedback from stakeholders, residents, and other City staff throughout the process, and using this feedback and background data, the UFS was prepared.

The Final Urban Forest Strategy report and technical report are available: Final Urban Forest Strategy Report | Technical Report

Where are we?

Since the approval of the Urban Forest Strategy, staff are moving forward with the identified action items – some of which are new, such as the Invasive Species Management Plan, the Green Building Standards, UFS branding and logo, etc., and some of which are already occurring, such as the Community Plantings initiatives, the Street Tree Planting Program, etc. You can get involved with these programs by following the link in the “Related Links” section to the project you’re interested in.