New blog location

This blog is now archived. Any new posts will be published at the new Trees and Tribulations site.

See you there!

Jennifer

Measuring the urban forest one summer at a time

Women in Forestry: A working list

In light of International Women's Day, I've highlighted some of the women that have been leaders in forestry - whether they assumed roles that were previously dominated by men or in some way made it that much easier for women to enter the male-dominated field.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it's a start.

Mona Roy (UNBArchives)

Mona Roy

In 1948, Mona Roy became the first woman to graduate from a forestry program in Canada and in 1950, broke another record as the first woman to complete an MSc in forestry. 

"Those with the idea that Forestry is strictly for men, can change their minds, for Mona can swing the axe and give the Forester's yell with the best of them."

Marie Rauter (OFIA)

Marie Rauter

Marie Rauter was the first woman to enrol and graduate from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry (the oldest forestry faculty in Canada). Rauter later completed an MSc in forest genetics and in 1999 was awarded the Canadian Forestry Achievement Award.

"Find a job to get paid doing whatever your hobby is. I've had the greatest life. I don't think I could have chosen a better profession."

Gail Kimbell (US Forest Service

Gail Kimbell

Gail Kimbell was the first chief of the United States Forest Service.

"I remember what it was like in 1969. It was the year of Woodstock—the year of the first moon landing—of NEPA. The Vietnam War was raging,...It was a time of ferment, a time of change, not least for the Forest Service...We were struggling to adapt to social change—to bring women and minorities into the organization and to help the whole organization adjust to the opportunities that come with richer diversity."

The Chipko movement

The Chipko Movement

The Chipko Movement was initiated by a group of peasant women from Reni village in India. The women staged a Gandhian (non-violent) protest against deforestation and the effect it was having on the local watershed. The Hindi word "chipko" means "to stick" or "to hug" and is the root of the modern term "tree hugger".

“Year after year the floods in the North of India seem to be getting worse, and this year they have been absolutely devastating. This means that there is something radically wrong in the Himalayas, and that 'something' is, without doubt, connected with the forests."

Wangari Matthai

Dr. Wangari Matthai (1940-2011)

Wangari Matthai was the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an eNGO that empowered women of rural Kenya to take action on forest restoration, watershed management, and community development. In 2004, Matthai became the first African woman ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. 

"It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees."

Sandy Smith (UofT)

Dr. Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith is a forest entomologist, professor and Dean Emeritus at the University of Toronto. Smith was the first woman appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Forestry. She is also a huge part of the reason that I specialized in forest health care.

“Enjoy the process. You need end goals, but appreciate the here and now. Step back and look at the big picture.”

I can't wait to fill the bottom of this page with all of the wonderful women that I studied forestry with or met through my professional pursuits. I know they have and will do great things. I'll just give them some time to get comfortable before I label them as revolutionaries!

Happy International Women's Day everyone!

winter tree tour in trinity bellwoods park

Posted by Jennifer Gagné / MARCH 05, 2014

What better way to break our hibernation than with a winter tree tour? This past Saturday we got together with Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park and over 90 participants from across Toronto and neighbouring cities. It was mild, the sun was shining and although our toes started to freeze as we approached the end, we were assured by our guide, Mark Sherman, that the buds were a sign that spring warmth was on its way!

   

The most obvious challenge with identifying species in the winter is the absence of leaves. However, as Mark pointed out, not all trees drop their leaves. We all know evergreens such as spruce, pine and cedar keep their needles all year, but even some beech and oak species hold on to their browned leaves until new ones replace them. Knowing what other characteristics to look for can make winter tree identification a walk in the park.

Mark shared many helpful identifiers: elm trees have a vase-like shape; London plane (Platanus × acerifolia) and American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) have camouflage-like bark; and bitternut hickories (Carya cordiformis) have bright, sulphur-yellow buds. Two buds at the end of twigs (terminal buds) points to lilac (Syringa vulgaris) or Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), whereas three or more are characteristic of oaks. We learned that ginkgos are remnants of the Jurassic Period and that the big bitternut hickory next to the tennis court is the oldest tree in the park (thanks to the community that rallied to push the court’s construction over a few feet).

I observed a strong sense of community during the tour. People shared stories with me about their summer jobs teaching kids to weave willow twigs into baskets, about how serviceberries are a great addition to a cream cheese icing, and for one young man, about how this tour was the first step to a future career in forestry. Though at first the trees seemed to be the main attraction, the people of this neighbourhood made the event memorable. And their keen interest in community forestry? Well, that was the serviceberry-icing on the cake.

You can take a tree tour by keeping an eye on our event listings here. Don’t miss the next exciting walk through our urban forest!

Originally posted at Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests

Photos by Sammy Tangir

Ice Storm 2013: tragedy or opportunity for regrowth?

Toronto ice storm 2013 (National Post)

To be completely honest, I can’t tell you much about the Toronto ice storm. I’ve read the articles, heard the estimates of canopy loss, the anecdotes from friends and colleagues about the backyard trees they lost, and their dangerous walks through city parks, dodging falling branches and skating down slippery paths.

I missed it all thanks to my friend Emily whose Christmas goal was to beat the storm – get us safely to our families at a reasonable hour, so she could watch Little Women with her mom and sister – a family tradition.  

From what I heard, not very many people in Toronto watched Little Women that night; they were lucky if they still had heat. Toronto was in a state of emergency, many without power, and I was sipping mulled wine in the Ottawa Valley, a place that has had its fair share of ice, a comparable storm, over a decade ago.

Ice storm of '98 (The Weather Channel)

As you may know, Ottawa and the rest of eastern Ontario, parts of Quebec, and the eastern U.S. experienced the same thing, even to a greater degree. At the age of 15, I survived the Ice Storm of ‘98. I thought the city looked like a winter wonderland, the trees cocooned in ice. I remember thinking it was really pretty, but the immediate damage was anything but.

It was an unprecedented disaster. There were forty-five deaths, residents without power for over a month, and greater than 600,000 hectares of Ontario’s hardwood forests were disturbed. To put this into perspective, it amounts to about 300,000 soccer fields of forest damage. The ice in some cases was up to ten centimetres thick – just imagine that kind of weight on trees and other structures. It was the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history, amounting to billions of dollars in damages over an area so large that the freezing was exceeded only by the last ice age.

Downed transmission tower in Quebec during the
'98 ice storm (Global news)

So fifteen years later, after we’ve just experienced another ice storm, this time in Southern Ontario, we can look back and ask, “was the ice storm of ‘98 really that bad?” Well in terms of the lives that were lost, the money that was spent, yes it was horrible, but looking at the impact on the forest landscape, ecologically speaking, maybe not as bad as we had expected.

There was a lot of new growth that spring. The ice pruned some of the trees where they needed it and mortality created new openings for young shade-tolerant species like sugar maple, American beech, and hemlock saplings. Much of the new growth seen after the ice storm of ’98 was due to the warm and wet spring and summer that followed. There was still a lot of mortality at the stand level, including insect infestations attacking stressed trees and loss of harvestable timber in red pine plantations. However, in terms of the ecology of the overarching landscape, the warm and wet growing conditions that spring, succeeded in turning a tragic storm into an opportunity for regeneration.

As for Toronto, we’ll just have to see what the conditions will be and how the forest will respond. The boulevard trees that were heavily damaged, will definitely need to be replanted. Norway maple, the most common tree in Toronto isn't as resilient as its native sugar maple when it comes to ice stress, so planting native species that have evolved in cold climates, can be a safe bet for preparing for the next storm. Before spring arrives, broken branches should be pruned. Residents can create better growing conditions for stressed trees by watering and mulching - especially in the case that it's a particularly dry season that follows. 

In the meantime, let's cross our fingers that it'll be a rainy spring. I hope that we can eventually look back on the 2013 ice storm, just like that of '98, and agree that it was intense, but in the grand ecological scheme of things, not all that bad.

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For tips on how you can help vulnerable trees rebound from the ice storm: visit Canadian Gardening Magazine.

Research shows eastern Ontario’s forests are springing back from ice damage - Ontario Forest Research Institute