Morden's Tree Value Exceeds $7.4 Million

The City of Morden is making plans to protect its more than $7.4 million in trees.

An Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) has been completed in the City of Morden. Parks and Urban Forestry Manager Shawn Dias says this plan will allow the City to know a lot about each of the City-owned trees.

"We were able to GPS the location, collect attributes such as species, diameter, height, condition and do that with over 5,000 trees to date," said Parks and Urban Forestry Manager Shawn Dias.

He added this is a work in process as they continue to prune, remove or plant trees.

This plan will guide the City's urban forestry in the future as they analyze canopy cover, species distribution, and age class distribution.

"It will assist us with future decisions on the urban forest and tree-related decisions," said Morden Mayor Ken Wiebe.

At this time Dias said the UFMP only has data on the City-owned trees, but are working towards documenting privately owned trees as well.

"Right now it would be great to have an idea of what is on private property and is a way to engage the public," said Dias.

He said in the coming weeks they'll have something which will allow residents to take inventory of their own trees.

Some of the highlights in the plan include nine key recommendations to help guide future management activities, an annual tree benefit estimated at $613, 626, current canopy cover and recommended targets, and a total tree appraisal value at just over $7.4 million.

On February 6th there will be a Public Information session hosted by Parks and Urban Forestry starting at 7:00 pm at the Access Event Centre in the Morden Chiropractic Room.