The Town’s Forestry team is getting ready to start its annual block pruning program and will prune over 10,000 trees between November and April. Their work helps protect the tree canopy and ensures our community is sustainable for years to come.

Tree pruning is led by a team of Certified Arborists who keep the trees healthy and safe by removing dead, dying and decaying branches. The team does this by removing branches that are interfering with sightlines and clearances on sidewalks, roadways and driveways. They prune trees to ensure they are strong and to help them withstand damaging winds and storms.

Here’s what you need to know:

What happens during block pruning?

During block pruning, the Forestry team inspects and assesses each boulevard tree, and prunes each tree to promote a strong healthy structure that increases the tree’s healthy life span, and reduces the chance of branches falling and causing injury or property damage, or otherwise impacting safety.

How often are Town trees pruned?

The Town typically prunes all residential street trees once every five years. Residents can view the 2021/2022 Winter Block Pruning Schedule to find out if the trees on their street are scheduled for pruning this upcoming season.

Which trees does the Town maintain?

All trees on Town property, including on boulevards, in parks, woodlots, trails and around Town buildings are maintained by the Forestry team.

What else does the Town’s Forestry team do?

In addition to pruning trees, the Town’s Forestry team also inspects and removes high risk or dead trees, and provides a tree planting program in the spring and fall.  Approximately 600 trees are planted by the Forestry team each year, which are then monitored, watered, mulched and maintained regularly over the summer, for two years after planting. 

With approximately 60,000 trees to regularly maintain on boulevards and in parks, and over 2,000 requests for service received each year, the Forestry team is working to keep our community safe and sustainable.

When they are not out on the road looking after the Town’s tree canopy, you can find the team completing education and training so that they stay up to date in current Forestry practices, maintaining equipment, or assisting with providing other Parks services like snow and ice control in parking lots and around Town facilities.

What should residents do if they have an urgent tree pruning request?

If your boulevard tree is not on the list for block pruning this year, or if your request for maintenance of a tree on Town property is more urgent, residents can contact the Forestry team and one of our Certified Arborists will come out to inspect and assess the situation.

For more information, visit whitby.ca/TreePruning.