City of Edmundston's population consulted on the importance of the urban forest

Feb 20, 2024

Public Works Department's Green Spaces Sector is currently updating the municipal urban forestry master plan. In order to do so, the first step was to consult the City of Edmundston's citizens in order to better understand their opinions regarding certain elements of the urban forest.

The information generated by this consultation will guide to draft the new urban forestry master plan. A plan intended to define and optimize trees and municipal woodlots management, for our community's needs and in line with City of Edmundston's strategic objectives for 2022-2026. The project is led by the Urban Forestry Advisory Committee, made up of municipal councilors, municipal employees and committed citizens. Its mandate is to make recommendations and develop medium and long-term action plans.

The public consultation process regarding the urban forest took place in two stages. From November 9th to the 24th, 2023, citizens were able to respond to an online survey on the municipal website. A meeting with representatives of community organizations then made it possible to bonify these results.

In total, 315 people responded to the online survey. Here are the general observations regarding the presence of trees in the city. In summary, the respondents:

• Recognize the importance and appreciate trees and woodlands in the city
• Want continued investments from the municipality to improve the urban forest
• Find that there should be more awareness, communications and opportunities for discussion on this subject
• Believe that the municipality should determine a number of trees to plant annually
• Opinion is divided regarding municipal regulations on the cutting and planting of trees on the territory

As for general findings regarding forests located within the city limits, respondents:

• Recognize the value of forests on several levels (beauty of the landscape, the quality of our drinking water, protection of the territory – erosion, flood barriers, etc.)
• Wish to maintain infrastructure for recreational activities in certain municipal woodlands (recreational tourism activities: ATV trails, snowmobiles, etc.)
• Ask to be informed if forest harvesting takes place on the municipality’s woodlots
• Consider that wildlife and forest conservation values ​​are important for municipal woodlands
• Want better supervision with regard to the scale of logging within the municipality

Full survey results can be viewed here.

As for the meeting with representatives of community organizations, they mentioned that the municipality must optimize the multiple values, not only forestry but recreational, wildlife, biodiversity, educational and economic values, of our urban forests. Furthermore, they agree that citizens' sense of belonging is essential to the renewal of this plan, and that communication must be an integral part of the process.

The urban forestry master plan should be available in 2024-2025.

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CONTACT: Daniel Gautreau, Green Spaces Coordinator, Public Works Department, 506.739.2103