Trees and Greenspace

For a greener and healthier City of Ottawa

Trees and Greenspaces are one of CAFES’ main action areas for our advocacy work, policy analysis and project implementation.

With the ultimate goal of creating a greener and healthier City of Ottawa, our Trees and Greenspace work is centred upon:

  • Supporting and organizing local tree planting and gardening projects
  • Advocating for more progressive tree planting policies at the municipal level
  • Sharing information among our network and within Ottawa’s neighbourhoods
  • Pushing for policies that better conserve biodiversity including native pollinators
  • Supporting our communities in identifying and removing invasive species
  • Connecting urban tree canopy with climate resilience, including stormwater management

City of Ottawa Trees and Greenspace Policies

CAFES closely monitors municipal programs and policies pertaining to forestry and greenspace management.

The City currently has a number of tree planting programs, which include:

  • Place Your Place! – distributing trees for planting on private land
  • Commemorative Tree Planting
  • Parks and Streetscape Planting
  • Green Acres – Ottawa’s Rural Reforestation Program
  • School Yard Tree Planting Grant Program
  • Trees in Trust – for planting on the City’s residential Right of Way including automatic planting and replacing

Key policies include the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP), which outlines the City’s tree priorities and strategic approach. Another important policy document is the Tree Protection By-Law, which ensures that trees with 30+ cm trunk diameter cannot be cut without a permit. The by-law also includes requirements for how trees are to be protected during construction. 

Another relevant policy is Ottawa’s Official Plan, which identifies the goal of achieving 40% tree canopy cover across the National Capital Region. We monitor policy implementation and bring community perspectives on the development and improvement of these policies. 

Our Advocacy Areas

Tree equity

One of our current top advocacy asks is for the City Forestry Department to take a stronger equity approach by applying the 40% canopy cover target to each neighbourhood in Ottawa. Many of Ottawa’s low-income neighbourhoods are tree deserts, with a disproportionate amount of ‘grey’ infrastructure and paved surfaces that cause heat islands. Having a plentiful canopy in these equity-deserving neighbourhoods will increase overall wellness, provide shade and cooling, enhance walkability, mitigate heat, reduce energy costs of buildings, and help manage stormwater retention and attenuation. 

Trees and zoning

CAFES was heavily involved in providing evidence-based feedback on each draft of the City’s new Comprehensive Zoning By-law, which was in development from 2024-2026 and finally approved in Q1 2026. Our advocacy and policy research focused on specific provisions and metrics for how zoning can regulate space on private lots and city streets for canopy trees – including the adequate soil volumes and soft landscaping that will support the growth of canopy trees to their full potential. In the face of increasing urban intensification, creating the spaces for new trees are more important than ever to ensure we have shade, cooling, air filtration, flood mitigation, walkability, soil filtration, traffic calming, mental health benefits and wildlife and pollinator habitats. Learn more about these issues by reading CAFES’ Trees and Zoning position paper.

Trees and climate resilience

Connecting trees and greenspaces with climate resilience is another one of our major focus areas. As climate change will continue to progress over the next several years, we will see major increases in heat as well as an increase in heavy rain, wind and storms, leading to overland flooding and sewer backups. Trees and permeable green spaces are one of the most effective methods to mitigate both heat and flooding, and we want to see City policy better integrate trees and green infrastructure into Ottawa’s climate action strategies. 

Check out our post and public delegation on Stormwater Tree Trenches to learn more about this interesting and cost-effective type of green stormwater infrastructure. 

We also help members take direct action to protect and plant trees by directing them to relevant people and resources. For resources on trees and our urban forest, including our Ottawa Urban Tree Manual, check out our Resources page (eventually replace with Toolkit)

Recent Victories

In June 2024, City Forestry Services proposed two major changes to their tree planting programs: 

  1. Pro-active tree planting on the City Right-of-Way 
  2. Plant Your Place! A new Private Land Tree Planting Program

Pro-active planting on the Right of Way is a huge victory for CAFES and something we have been advocating extensively for many years. This new program will involve automatic replacing of dead or dying trees that were previously planted from the Trees in Trust program, and identifying gaps and planting new trees in these spaces.

The new Place Your Place! Private Land Tree Planting Program started in 2025 with the city distributing 1250 free trees to residents. This tree give-away is intended to occur each year in the spring, with additional trees allocated to equity neighbourhoods. See CAFES’ public delegation in support of these programs. CAFES has been organizing free tree give-aways for a number of years to demonstrate the impotence of tree planting on private property.

CAFES and Foret Capitale Forest Trees and Greenspace Caucus

CAFES and Foret Capitale Forest (FCF) collaborate to facilitate regular Trees and Greenspace Caucus meetings. These virtual caucuses are typically held every few months, and aim to unite community members who are either active in green initiatives in the City or are interested in learning more. The purpose of the caucus is to share information and deliberate on current issues pertaining to trees, parks, invasive species, gardening, pollinators and more. The caucus is open to all – for more information and to check out upcoming dates, visit this link here.

Projects

Check out the links below to see some of the trees and greenspace projects we have been up to in recent years: