We are a community-led action group for respectful development and urban tree preservation and protection. Helping trees survive and thrive is our mission.
If you care about trees and urban forests in your community, let us know
Click here to learn more about the Community Trees Matter Network
The Community Trees Matter Network came together out of a desire to bring more voices together in support for our urban trees and forests and to find out what resources and information we can share.
Thanks to a Greater Victoria Acting Together listening campaign hosted by the Sierra Club late this past summer, a number of us were introduced to share our interest and passion for trees. What we found was that each of us has some knowledge about trees, municipal planning processes and a desire to protect, preserve and see the planting of more trees. To avoid duplication of efforts, we have started the Community Trees Matter Network.
We have grown into a volunteer, citizen-led coalition of people who value urban trees and want to work with regional municipal authorities to ensure more is done to protect, preserve, and plant and maintain trees to ensure they survive and thrive.
In collaboration with the Creatively United for the Planet non-profit society, we host our information within the CreativelyUnited.org website. This community social sharing network allows individuals and organizations wanting to connect, share, and collaborate to post, free-of-charge, information, upcoming events, notices, stories and photos.
Our hope is that through our combined efforts we can help support projects that involve trees. We have found councils and mayors very responsive. A number of us have presented to Victoria City Council, Saanich Council and Esquimalt Council.
Victories include: Victoria council and mayor agreeing to explore other site options for the Crystal Pool project that don’t involve cutting established trees and destroying adjacent park space, plus forward movement on implementation of the 2013 Urban Forest Management Plan and tree preservation bylaw updates; support for saving mature trees on Grange Road in Saanich; and Haro Woods finally receiving more protection.
We have had interviews on the CBC, CHEK TV, plus many letters published by the Victoria News and the Times-Colonist. Creatively United has been sharing our information to their mailing list of 5,000+ people, providing updates to the website, and sharing on social media. If you are on Facebook, please follow both CreativelyUnited and TreesMatterNetwork.
Please feel free to send us your information and updates to post here. Together, anything is possible! Let’s leverage the power of our combined networks so that we can help each other.
Trees Matter – Shareable Graphics
Trees are among the hardest working members of our world community. Every day, 24 hours a day, they provide a huge host of incredible services that they receive little thanks or recognition for. I created these graphics to visually show some of the many attributes of...
Will the candidate you vote for in next month’s election work to protect Victoria’s trees?
Will the candidate you vote for in next month’s election work to protect Victoria’s trees? Elections provide an opportunity for us to compel our future politicians to focus upon issues of special concern, and to record their stances so that we can hold them to account...
An Appreciation of Trees: Discussion Panel
'An Appreciation of Trees' provides nature lovers and Royal Commonwealth Society members from around the world a unique opportunity to come together and rediscover our love for trees. Register here for this November 1st event from 2 - 4 pm PT. Join Dr. John Innes,...
Connections in Kindness Tree Photography
Join us in photographing trees and in connecting our community to the kindness of trees!
Old Growth Strategy Review
An effective old growth strategy is one important part of a long-term forest asset stewardship plan to ensure nature’s endowment of forests best serve the public’s interests in changing times. Effective old growth forest conservation, protection and management will be...
Register for Trees in the City – A Conversation with David Haskell
David Haskell is a British-born American biologist, acclaimed author, and a university professor of biology in Tennessee. In addition to scientific papers, he has written essays, poems, op-eds, and books; The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees. In The Forest Unseen,...
Tree Seedlings Available Nov 2-6
The District of Central Saanich, thanks to the generous donation of Mosaic Forest Management, will be giving out 100 Douglas Fir seedlings the week of November 2 to 6, 2020. The seedlings will be available outside Municipal Hall, at 1903 Mt Newton Cross Road, from 9...
Awaken Forest Ballet
If you love our forests and trees, please share this special short film produced by Creatively United in collaboration with Ballet Victoria. Awaken, an exquisitely intimate performance inspired by the soft whispers of the forest, features original music composed, sung and orchestrated by Canada’s multi award-winning legend, Ann Mortifee, in collaboration with former Chilliwack band member, Ed Henderson (guitar), and Finn Manniche (cello).
Sensorial Becomings: Climate Pedagogies With Children
As more than mere representations of ‘humanity’s future’, children are active participants in everyday constructions of now and future worlds. Created by children, educators and pedagogists at UVic Child Care Services, Sensorial Becomings emerges out of our...
City of Victoria Tree Planting Challenge, Mapping Tool and Workshops
Victoria is the first city in Canada to join the UN's Trees in Cities Challenge. The City will work with the community to meet its goal of planting 5,000 trees on public and private land by the end of 2020. Residents and groups can join in the Trees in Cities...
Protect Fort Street Trees
This flyer on a telephone pole in the neighbourhood surrounding 1475 Fort Street, with an additional twenty copies along Pemberton, Fort and St. Charles streets. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic in that area, especially Fort Street. So, hopefully, this will not...
An Appreciation for Trees
The Vancouver Island branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society hosts this Trees for Life video discussion to highlight the role trees play in our lives, communities, and the longevity of our planet. Join Dr. John Innes (Dean,...
Manifesto for a Just and Ecological Civilization
We are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel coming out of, at least, phase 1 of the pandemic in Canada. In my idleness, I, along with Penny Joy and a friend, have created the attached manifesto for the post-Covid world, to attempt to unify our various social,...
Trees Matter Free Toolkit
Trees matter! For this reason, we have compiled a variety of information, resources, ideas and wisdom to help protect and preserve more trees. Check it out!
Mature Trees Best at Absorbing Carbon
Anyone interested in the importance and value of old trees, should find this interesting. For years foresters have assumed that old trees have stopped growing and in many cases are decadent. Good we have forest researchers to do this important research. From The...
I just had the chance to view the City of Victoria Council video – hat’s off to you for bringing bright, new, constructive talks to the city about the urban forest! It was awesome to see city staff clapping, even though the Mayor had to remind them of the rules. Takes good speakers to get staff to cheer!
