Town of Banff

Urban Forest Management Plan

New trees were planted on Banff Avenue as part of the Banff Refreshing project in spring 2008

What is the urban forest?

About one quarter of Banff’s urban area is covered in some form of “forest.”  This urban forest is made up of natural and undisturbed areas, traditional parks and trees that have been planted along roadways, especially Banff Avenue.

Trees are beautiful, of course, but they also provide valuable functions as wildlife habitat, atmosphere purification, shade, acoustical control, privacy, and recreational use.

What is the Urban Forest Management Plan?

Urban trees require inspection, watering, pruning, protection from ungulate browsing, and other on-going maintenance. Many management issues exist today that were not considerations in the past.

Banff’s urban forest is under pressure from a number of factors including forest health, age (many trees are at least 80 years old), and mountain pine beetle infestation. 

Trees that are considered hazardous from a safety or fire perspective must also be addressed. A balance between public safety, mountain resort town aesthetics, and the principles of National Park environmental stewardship is a difficult challenge, and solutions are required to simultaneously address these considerations.

The Urban Forest Management Plan documents updates and revises existing urban forest management practices. This plan was created, in part, to address public concerns about the health of Banff’s urban forest, that were heard during the redevelopment of Banff’s Central Park and after hundreds of trees around town were lost in windstorms.  Residents were concerned about the loss of trees on public parkland, open spaces and along the Bow River and supported protection of landmark and other significant trees.

What does the Plan include?

• an inventory and health assessment of trees located on publicly owned lands within the Banff town site, detailed information on status and distribution, and the methods used to collect and summarize data
  

• a brief review of past management practices, and relevant, unique montane National Park considerations (ex. soils, climate, ungulate attractors, native species, Banff Design Guidelines, trail use patterns and plans, etc.)
  

• identification of unhealthy or hazardous trees (for reasons of human safety, Firesmart Plan, or infestation control)
  

• recommendations on priorities for removal of trees, and for mitigating other problems revealed by the forest assessment
  

• development and costing of a prioritized, detailed annual planting plan to enhance the health, appearance and ecosystem function of Banff’s urban forest
  

• consideration of other key institutional treed areas (including The Banff Centre, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Mineral Springs Hospital, and peripheral zones / town entrance points owned by Parks Canada)
  

• tentative recommendations for longer-term policy and planning work

Read the entire report here:

• Town of Banff Urban Forest Management Plan ( PDF - 6 MB)
  

What are we doing?

• Council has committed $450,000 over the next three years to fund implementation of the Plan. 
  
  
• Trees that were considered hazardous from a public safety or fire perspective were identified as priority issues for management within this Plan.
  
  
• In 2009 over 150 trees and approximately 150 new shrubs were added to our urban landscape.

For more information, contact our Environmental Coordinator at enviroservices@banff.ca or 403.762.1215.