NeighbourWoods is a volunteer-based program designed to take an inventory of trees on private property. Trees are valuable natural resources that improve the quality of life and make our neighbourhoods greener and more livable while providing many other social and ecological benefits.
In the city of Ottawa the majority of urban trees are located on privately owned residential lands. The city does not have any detailed information about the trees on private property, nor do they actively manage this part of the urban forest. The city simply doesn’t have the resources or jurisdiction to manage privately-owned trees. The city does have a comprehensive set of data regarding the trees on its property, ie. in its parks and the front 3 feet of your property next to the road. Data from NeighbourWoods could have many applications such as helping to protect and grow our urban forest. Afterall, you can’t protect what you don’t know.
Dr. Kenney co-founder of Neighbourwoods and provider of Neighbourwoods training
Neighbourwoods was developed by Dr. W.A. Kenney and Dr. D. Puric-Mladenovic to assist volunteers in collecting the tree information they need to strategically plan and manage urban forests. Since its inception in 1995, NeighbourWoods has been used and applied by many communities across Ontario including Beaverbrook in Kanata.
NeighbourWoods is an exciting way to be active, spend time outdoors, connect with people in your community and learn about the trees in and around where you live.
Two day training sessions are held each May.
We are recruiting volunteers to: distribute flyers, schedule volunteers, work in teams of 3 to do inventory, and data entry. The training will involve learning to identify trees, measure their size and determine what their state of health is. If you would like to get involved or would like to attend the free training session please register/contact TreeInventory@blackburnhamlet.
For more information about NeighbourWoods visit neighbourwoods.org/