#TreesofNDG #CUtrees

Thank you for Participating!

Over the past four months we have accepted your submissions to the NDG Community Tree Project. Combined with our public tree inventory, your individual submissions have contributed to an inventory of over 5,000 trees within the community! We'd like to personally thank our participants for their contributions to our research project. Without your enthusiasm in local science and research we would not have been able to complete our work during these uncertain times. Your continued interest and engagement is deeply appreciated! 

We are now compiling, organizing and analyzing your tree data to learn more about the benefits they provide our community. Stay tuned for our preliminary results! We are planning to present our findings this winter through webinars and talks within the community (if safe to do so). In the meantime, feel free to reach out to us by email: montrealprivatetrees@gmail.com. 

We hope to bring our project to other Montreal neighbourhoods soon! 

- The Tree Team

Project Information

​Our urban forest is made up of the trees and associated green spaces in parks, streets, private land and natural areas within the city. A diverse urban forest provides resilience to environmental change (like climate change, or insect outbreaks) while also providing numerous benefits to our communities. Trees within our green spaces reduce hot summer temperatures, improve local air quality, promote mental wellbeing and provide recreational spaces for physical activity. To better measure and understand these benefits, scientists need an inventory of city trees. Our current understanding of urban forests has been largely limited to trees located on public land. However, half of all city trees are growing on private land – and the characteristics of these trees are not well understood. Understanding how tree species differ between public and private green spaces is crucial to understanding the full scope of urban forest diversity and the numerous benefits it provides our communities. Through this project we will build on our current knowledge of the urban forest using local resident participation in a tree inventory of private yards within Notre-Dame de Grace. This information will improve our understanding of urban forest diversity, resilience, and benefits in Montreal.

In the Media!

Meet Our Team!

Contact us at: montrealprivatetrees@gmail.com
Photos by: @ConcordiaStudio

Dr. Carly
​Ziter

Principal Investigator

Carly is a new professor in the Department of Biology at Concordia University, where she leads the Urban Landscape Ecology lab, and teaches courses about ecology and biodiversity. She loves working with passionate graduate and undergraduate students to learn more about the plant and animal species sharing our great city. She's especially excited about projects (like this one!) that engage community members in science and education.

Emma McLaughlin

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Emma is starting her 3rd year of human environment and sustainability at Concordia. She has made it her mission in life to advocate for climate justice and believes that through environmental education, such as teaching folks about trees, this can happen. She is interested in the preservation of trees and the implementation of municipal programs to encourage residents to invest in trees for our future.

Kayleigh
​Hutt-Taylor

Lead Master's Student

Kayleigh is the lead graduate student working on the NDG community tree inventory. I'm very passionate about studying urban ecology! With this project, I am hoping we can engage local residents to learn more about their own backyard nature while also contributing to our overall understanding of Montreal’s urban forest. By integrating private trees into our research we can move towards an overall improved understanding of the value of urban trees and what they provide our communities.

Maya
​Catterall

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Maya is a 2020 summer research intern, completing her 2020 work term for her CO-OP program. I joined this team because I am interested in studying urban forests and how they impact our well being and local ecology. I will also be looking at tree diversity in cities, using the data we collect, to look at how our preferences for native vs. non-native tree species can have an impact on local biodiversity.