Become a Young Urban Forest Leader

©2017 Anthony Polimeni / LEAF

Become a Young Urban Forest Leader!

This innovative program is supporting the next wave of environmental leaders in their growth! The goal of the program is to provide valuable experience in the fields of arboriculture, urban forestry and community engagement. 

Key Activities Include:

  • Completing the LEAF Tree Tenders Volunteer Tree Training Program - 15 hours of online arboriculture training led by local professionals
  • Participating in online skill-building workshops and mentored activities - meetings take place weekly on Tuesday evenings from late April through August
  • Working to improve the tree canopy in communities. This includes assessing the existing canopy, identifying opportunities for tree planting and stewardship and engaging local residents, all with guidance and support from LEAF. Activities/events include:
    • Online outreach
    • In-person tree tour events
  • Participating in peer-feedback, career-planning sessions and professional development and networking events

The Benefit to Participants:

  • Gain hard and soft skills in arboriculture, urban forestry and community engagement to prepare for employment and/or post-secondary education
    • Skills include tree biology, identification, planting, mulching, understanding Toronto's tree bylaws and threats to the urban forest, leadership and teamwork, public speaking, visual communication and virtual outreach
  • Meet industry professionals and explore various career paths
  • Receive a certificate of completion
  • Contribute to increased appreciation of the urban forest
  • Build meaningful connections with other passionate young people 
©2016 Erin MacDonald/LEAF

Applicant Criteria

 

Applicants Must:

  • Be between the ages of 18 and 29
  • Be a resident of the City of Toronto
  • Be able to commit up to 5 hours per week. Meetings occur weekly on Tuesday evenings from May through August
  • Be available to attend LEAF’s Tree Tenders Volunteer Training (15 hours of online arboriculture training led by local professionals). The course will take place in May over four evenings and one weekend - Each of the five classes is mandatory
  • Have an interest in arboriculture, urban forestry and/or environmental community engagement

Priority will be given to applicants from underrepresented groups within arboriculture and urban forestry with a need to participate in a fully-funded training program.

 

Young Urban Forest Leaders Initiatives

Young woman holding up two leaves

After an overwhelmingly successful switch to a remote format last year, we hosted the program virtually again in 2021. We engaged 21 Young Urban Forest Leaders (YUFLs) from across Toronto, each making an impact in the urban forest in their own communities! 

 

Growing the Urban Forest

YUFL participants helped grow the urban forest in their communities by promoting the LEAF native shrub giveaway. Through community outreach to residents, leaders and local city councillors, YUFLs facilitated greening by promoting the giveaway of 300 native shrubs for planting on private property.
 

Engaging Communities

Drawing on the skills they developed over the course of the program, YUFLs curated and delivered a series of four educational webinars that ran from August 10th to 19th. The series highlighted tree identification, common urban stressors, and the historical significance of tree species, while working to encourage community members to take action and connecting them with available resources.

 

Young woman measuring girth of a tree trunk with measuring tape

To ensure the health and safety of program participants, we moved the program entirely online. With tremendous interest for the remote program, we increased the size of the cohort from 12 to 19 Young Urban Forest Leaders (YUFLs). 

The YUFLs worked within their own communities across the city to spark awareness and engage neighbours to grow and care for the urban forest. Each YUFL applied the skills they learned in the program to assess local tree canopy composition and tree health. This assessment helped to identify priorities for tree planting and stewardship.

 

Greening Communities

The YUFLs promoted the importance of native species and #BackyardBiodiversity, encouraging residents to plant more native species through the Backyard Tree Planting program and through a special free native shrub distribution program. 

Sharing Knowledge

All their hard work culminated in a four-part educational webinar series that ran from September 1st to 10th that discussed the trees found in the Greater Toronto Area, the vital role these trees play in an urban landscape, the stress they face and what can be done to care for them. 
 

 

 

 

2019 YUFL participants leading a tree tour

A team of six Young Urban Forest Leaders (YUFLs) collaborated with local community groups to help green the Bloordale and Brockton neighbourhoods. The Bloordale Community Improvement Association and the Botanicus Art Ensemble came together with the YUFL team to spark awareness and engage neighbours in improving the local urban forest.

The YUFLs helped local residents plant more native trees and shrubs through planting incentives and giveaways, promoted Backyard Biodiversity and the benefits of native species for wildlife through habitat creation, and helped revitalize the existing Adopt-a-Street Tree program at Bloordale. 

Their hard work culminated in a tree tour through the community. Learn more about tricks to tell some species apart and the beauty of bringing a community together in their blog.

 

 

The Bloordale Community Improvement Association and the Bloordale BIA initiated the Bloordale Adopt-a-Street-Tree project in 2016. Since then, the 50 newly planted trees between Dufferin and Lansdowne have been cared for by local businesses and residents so that each tree thrives.

The Botanicus Art Ensemble is a community arts organization based out of the MacGregor Playground Park. They bring professional artists and gardeners together with community members with the goal of fostering creative expression and the exchange of ideas. They also seek to enhance the enjoyment of public spaces and the connection with nature in the urban environment.

Young Urban Forest Leader mulching a tree

Centennial Park

Five of our Young Urban Forest Leaders supported the Friends of Centennial Park to establish a new Adopt-a-Park-Tree project. Learn more about the work they undertook in order to help launch the program in Centennial Park in their blog.

 

 

Centennial Park is one of Toronto’s busiest parks and is the second largest in the City at 525 acres. In 2014, approximately 450 trees were removed from the park due to Emerald Ash Borer.

Friends of Centennial Park, in partnership with Our Place Initiative, works with the local community, advocating for improvements to the park to increase everyone's enjoyment of this wonderful space. They have been working on tree planting initiatives to help increase the tree canopy, and now, the Friends of Centennial Park are developing an Adopt-a-Park-Tree project that will foster stewardship for years to come.

Young Urban Forest Leader leading a Tree Tour

Guild Park

Four of our Young Urban Forest Leaders supported the Friends of Guild Park to establish a new Adopt-a-Park-Tree project. To launch the project, a tree tour and mulching event was held in Guild Park. Learn more about the event in their blog.

 

 

Guild Park is 36 hectares, located on the geologically significant landform of the Scarborough Bluffs. It’s located within the transition life zone between the Southern and Great Lake-St. Lawrence Forest systems, characterized by both the coniferous trees of the northern Boreal forest mixed with deciduous trees.

Since 2013, the Friends of Guild Park have been working to increase the awareness and appreciation of Guild Park & Gardens as a spectacular and sustainable public destination, where art meets nature. The park was formerly the site of an artist colony and is notable for its collection of relics, saved from the demolition of buildings primarily in downtown Toronto, arranged akin to ancient ruins.

 

Young Urban Forest Leader leading a Tree Tour

Trinity Bellwoods Park

Nestled in the heart of downtown Toronto, this popular park was the first in the city to launch an Adopt-a-Park-Tree program in 2006.

 

However, with 90 new trees and changes in program coordination, the Friends of Trinity Bellwoods was seeking support to revitalize their Adopt-a-Park-Tree program. This year, four of our Young Urban Forest Leaders helped Friends of Trinity Bellwoods incorporate the new trees into the long-standing Adopt-a-Park-Tree program. Learn more about the interactive activity the team organized during the tree tour and mulching event in their blog.

 

Supporting Partners

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