Urban Forest

Victoria, the City of Gardens, lies nestled beneath a protective canopy of trees - our urban forest.

An urban forest includes all of a community's trees, shrubs and ground cover, and the soils in which they grow. Parks, natural areas, boulevards and residential gardens are examples of some of the many and diverse treed areas that make up Victoria's urban forest.

Our urban forest has approximately 150,000 trees. The City of Victoria manages 33,000 of these trees within its parks and boulevards.

The City of Victoria Urban Tree Inventory completed in 2012 found that 64% of public trees are in good or excellent condition and 30% are in fair condition and 6% are in poor condition. 

The City is keeping close tabs on its valuable tree inventory to prevent injury or property damage. At the same time, we need to think about how best to invest in and ensure Victoria's urban forest is healthy, safe and abundant in the future. 

Learn how the City of Victoria's Urban Forest Master Plan sets out a vision, goals and strategy for the management of the urban forest though until 2060.

Planning for the long term health of our urban forest is done each year.  Maintaining these trees, planting new trees and  removing trees that are at the end of their healthy lifecycle is part of this work.  Learn more about our tree removal program here.