storm claimed 1,500 of those trees, and another 7,924 were damaged by the Emerald Ash Borer. • Of Toronto’s roughly 10 million trees (of at least 116 species) 6% are City-owned street trees, and 34% are in parks. The rest are on private property. • To meet its canopy goal—increasing coverage from 28% to 40% by 2057—the City needs to add over half a million new trees a year for the next 50 years. Its plan relies not only on natural regeneration and planting on public property, but on private residents planting and maintaining trees on their properties. • Another challenge remains. While the City is upping its urban forestry budget to $100M by 2022, a balance will need to be found between canopy expansion and booming urban development.578
According to Wellbeing Toronto, the neighbourhoods with the most tree foliage all corresponded with the location of our river valleys and ravines in 2011. The Rouge neighbourhood came out on top in this regard, with 12,888,044m2. North St. James Town had the least tree foliage, with 61,616m.2
How concerned are we about flooding, water usage, and the City’s management of water issues and infrastructure? After “the year of the urban flood,” in which excessive rainfall or snowmelt caused floods that overwhelmed municipal stormwater management systems in Toronto, Calgary, and elsewhere in 2013, the City’s management of water issues is a surprisingly low priority for Torontonians: • Toronto Water manages one of the largest drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems in North America, yet the daily cost for the average Toronto household is among the lowest in the GTHA—$2.27 in 2014.579 • RBC’s seventh annual study measuring the attitudes of urban residents to water issues finds that only 1% of Torontonians think stormwater management should be the highest priority infrastructure area for government funding, even though 23% of those surveyed live in an area they perceive as vulnerable to flooding and 20% had been personally affected by flooding in the past 12 months. o Torontonians instead named hospitals (27%), urban/suburban public transit (17%), and the production of green energy (15%) as highest-priority infrastructure investments. 12% prioritized the drinking water supply and 4% sewage collection/treatment. • 42% believe that Toronto’s water treatment and delivery systems are in good condition and need only minor regular investments for upkeep, 12% believe they are in poor condition and need major investments now, and almost half (47%) said they had no idea what condition they are in. o The responses for the city’s stormwater management systems were 33% good, 19% poor, and 47% no idea.
Toronto’s Vital Signs® Report 2015 Environment
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