Frequently Asked Questions
Arborists are people with specialized training and experience with working with trees that are located close to areas with people, buildings, and infrastructure.
Arboriculture is a separate discipline from forestry, despite their considerable overlap, as arborists typically focus on trees at the individual level and foresters typically look at communities of trees. Within the field of arboriculture, people can focus on tree work (pruning and removal), consulting, municipal work and/or working near utilities.
The International Society of Arboriculture oversees the certification and training of arborists around the world. Learn more here.
What is an arborist?
What is urban ecology?
As society has become more urbanized, many people have adopted a worldview that sees cities as separate from nature, with nature only existing somewhere “out there” or in parks.
The reality is that our cities disrupted ecological relationships that are thousands of years old. By creating these sanitized spaces, we have made ourselves more vulnerable to heat, drought, flooding, and physical and mental illnesses. The more access we have to nature, the more resilient we are, but we also have to consider the more-than-human world. All living beings have intrinsic value, and benefit each other in complex ways.
Urban ecology tries to find ways to restore some of these relationships and improve the ecological health of our cities, which in turn improves human health. Indigenous Peoples have always known this, the Western world is just waking up to it.
Why do I need an arborist report for my building permit?
With so much of the tree living underground, grade changes, storage of materials, vehicle traffic and so much more can cause significant damage, so it is important that all trees within about 10m of construction are considered in relation to your project.
Even if you have no trees on your property, the City may require you to do your due-diligence to ensure your neighbour’s trees won’t be harmed by construction.
What is the process for arborist report for construction?
Each project is unique, but in general the arborist report process follows these steps:
Tree inventory
All Bylaw Protected trees must be inventoried and captured on the site survey. This includes offsite trees on private and municipal property. An arborist will visit the site to complete the tree inventory, and for most projects, a land surveyor must capture the locations of the trees on the site survey.
Reporting
All inventoried trees will be plotted on a tree plan with their Tree Protection Zones along with all planned construction. There may then be some plan changes required in order to improve tree retention outcomes.At Branching Out, an arborist report review meeting will be conducted once the report is complete to ensure all parties understand the recommendations in the report.
Once that is complete, the arborist report will be finalized along with tree protection recommendations, replacement tree plans, and any other required information, and submitted to the City for review.
Municipal review and permitting
The City will review the report and set permit requirements (such as fees, bonding, securities, tree protection fencing, and letters of assurance).Once all requirements have been met, the permits will be issued. Note: you cannot damage or remove any trees until the tree cutting permit is issued.
Construction
All tree protection barriers must stay up and in good condition until landscaping (including any work requiring machinery or grading) is complete. If work is to be done within the barrier, you should call your project arborist before removing the fence.Arborist supervision may be required for various stages of your project, and it is your responsibility to give the arborist adequate notice when they are required on site. It is your arborist’s responsibility to document any work done near retained trees and provide that information in a follow-up letter.
Landscaping
Any required replacement trees should be planted and replacement tree inspections conducted.Post-construction
Once construction is complete, if arborist supervision was required during the project, your arborist will have to submit all follow-up letters to city to be reviewed before you can get building final. If the arborist was not called to supervise, or if it is found that a tree was damaged, an impact assessment may be required.
What is the process for an impact assessment?
Trees get damaged, often by well-intentioned people who truly did not know that they were harming the tree. Regardless of why the tree was damaged, most cities have Tree Bylaws and may require that an arborist complete an impact assessment if they find a tree has been damaged by non-natural means.
The assessment will vary depending on the extent of the damage and the situation, but in general, for each tree damaged the arborist must determine
a) the extent of the damage
b) if the tree is hazardous as a result of the damage
c) any mitigation recommendations to improve the health and/or structure of the tree. The city may issue fines, require replacement trees be planted, and/or require the recommended mitigation work be completed (typically under guidance of the arborist).
In our experience, municipalities tend to prefer solutions that will improve the tree cover on the property over fines, and are much more willing to be flexible if the property owner takes accountability for whatever has happened.
If you’ve received notice from the city that you must do an impact assessment, it can be stressful, but we are here to help.
