A Calgary city councillor’s plan to have a private tree protection bylaw was uprooted at committee, but saplings were planted for its potential return at budget time.

The May 8 Community Development Committee reviewed the City’s Climate and Environment administration’s response to a Notice of Motion regulating trees on private property, along with directing city administration to look at further tree planting incentives.

Sparked by the announcement of the Calgary Climate Strategy plan three years ago, the tree conservation motion was originally proposed by Coun. Terry Wong and Andre Chabot. Council passed the motion in March 2024, paving the way for an investigation into whether incentives or restrictions would most appropriately catapult the city to tree canopy success. 

The city aims​​ to achieve 16 per cent tree canopy coverage by 2050. Tree canopies offer natural shade and cooling effects, and are considered proficient at combating heat released from industrialization.

Shane Gagnon with the City of Calgary noted that Calgary’s tree canopy currently provides an underwhelming eight per cent coverage. With the city’s already delayed timeline, Gagnon and the administration had little confidence in a bylaw speeding up progress on building the canopy. 

He cited bylaws as being expensive and often inadequately enforced, and advised that the city should instead put more energy into developing and maintaining incentives that encourage planting on private property. 

Councillors were told the delivery of a private tree protection bylaw would be $2.8 million. While councillors approved admin’s recommendation not to move ahead with a private tree bylaw, it may be re-evaluated during the budget later in November.

Since 2008, the Land Use bylaw has regulated the extent to which contractors can manipulate trees during development. Amid a housing crisis, Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra felt there were already enough restrictions and disapproved of a private property bylaw because he said that it “would hammer against development, which we don’t need right now.”

Despite receiving little support from the administration and fellow councillors, Wong said he will continue to push for a bylaw sheltering privately planted trees in the fall. 

“While members of the council did approve the idea of protecting the tree canopy…to enforce it was something that they’re not prepared to discuss,” he said. 

Wong said the almost $3 million budget is minimal compared to other projects financed by the city and province. He said that incentives were the “carrot” and bylaws the “stick.”

“Either way, it’s work that’s got to be done, whether funded by one bucket or another bucket,” said Wong.

What would a tree conservation bylaw look like?

If a tree conservation bylaw were to be successfully passed, Wong said it could mean fines for people removing trees from their yards.

“I can’t stop anybody, and I certainly can’t stop my neighbour from removing a tree,” he said.

“But if there’s a bylaw…there’s a social economic cost to [knocking it down].”

Wong believes protecting mature trees is not only important for advancing the city’s canopy goal but also for crafting desirable communities. 

“There’s a social value of having a tree that beautifies the neighbourhood,” he said. 

“Having trees can create calmness, a place of comfort.”

City administration said they believed a bylaw would chew up city funds and discourage the planting of more trees.  Instead, they recommended the council shift its focus away from protecting old trees and toward planting new ones in residents’ yards. 

Planting over protecting

Currently, the city’s main tree planting incentive is Branching Out — a program giving away free trees to be planted on private property. 

Robert Tremblay with the Calgary Climate Hub (CCH) agreed with the administration and said that to attract environmental progress, the city should make offering incentives a priority.  

“I think having incentives is a good compromise where maybe developers that would not have otherwise maintained that tree now have the financial incentive to do so,” he said.

Launching their Tree Equity Campaign, the CCH released an online map illustrating where trees are lacking. As Tremblay explained, the city’s existing canopies are typically found in high-income communities. 

Though standing behind private planting initiatives, Tremblay said that instead of implementing a bylaw guarding trees, the city’s funds could be better used on ensuring low-income and historically underdeveloped communities have trees planted in areas publicly accessible. 

“To the extent that a tree canopy is on private land, that cooling effect really rests with the owners of that property,” he said. 

“But the more that we have tree canopies on public land, that cooling effect is accessible to anybody.”