What is your interest and motivation in serving for LEAF as a board member?
I devoted the first 10 years of my career to urban forestry in Ontario – first as a communications professional and then as a program manager within municipal administrations. That work was fulfilling, fun and interesting, and led me to pursue policy critique with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. I was able to continue furthering my interest in the urban forest and urban sustainable development through policy research and advising but have since moved over to program management, stakeholder relations and communications with a regulatory authority overseeing waste management in Ontario.
Having amassed varied career experience, and now finding myself further removed from the realm of trees and forests, I want to continue to contribute to the sustainable management and enhancement of urban forests in the GTA through volunteering. Applying my skills and experience as a member of the LEAF Board would offer me an unparalleled opportunity to contribute to the success of an organization I have always supported and that makes a difference in my community. My interest in volunteering specifically as a board member has been further ignited by working with an engaged and supportive board in my current position. I have seen the impact board members can have on an organization’s success.
What experience do you bring?
I spent 10 years working in municipal roles within urban forest management, communications, and public outreach and education. Preceding that I completed a Masters of Forest Conservation at the University of Toronto, where I studied urban forest management and conservation, and completed an Emerald Ash Borer Management Strategy for the St. Lawrence Islands National Park for Parks Canada as my capstone project.
In my work for York Region as an Invasive Species Specialist, I developed and implemented a 10-year invasive species strategy and budget. I also had the pleasure of working with LEAF as a partner in delivering the backyard tree planting program in York Region.
In my current role, I am developing skills and experience in strategic planning, stakeholder relations and business analysis.
What do you see as some of the most pressing issues facing urban forests?
Urban development has not often prioritized preserving trees or creating appropriate space for them to grow. Green infrastructure in general is only recently recognized as pivotal to adapting to climate change, and to the health and well being of our cities' ecosystems and residents. Education and awareness about the role of trees and forests in urban areas is still required. There is often a lack of planning and proactive management, a dearth of funds and little political will, combined with the physical difficulties of poor soil, air pollution, construction damage, lack of root space and competition with other infrastructure all make growing and preserving healthy trees and forests in urban environments extremely challenging. Climate change and invasive tree and forest pests are also detrimental forces impacting urban forest health.
However, the pendulum is swinging in the right direction in some ways: tree and forest protection by-laws are becoming more common, and more and more citizens and decision-makers are acknowledging the importance of urban forests to community health and well-being, climate change adaptation, pollution mitigation, and property values and other economic markers.
How do you see LEAF currently, or potentially, addressing some of these issues?
I believe that community participation and involvement in the stewardship of community environmental resources is absolutely key to conserving and enhancing those resources. Programs like those LEAF runs that make use of private land for enhancing the urban forest, and that engage and empower urban citizens to care for and improve the natural world literally in their backyards (and parks and local ravines and vacant lots), are making incremental differences for the better.
Erin MacDonald is the Acting Executive Director at LEAF.
Stacey Bowman is an Urban Forest Champion - someone who has made a positive impact on our urban forest through their professional, volunteer or personal efforts.
Read more our Urban Forest Champion blog series here.