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The City of Burlington’s annual street tree pruning program is underway.
Our pruning program is very important work that protects our urban tree canopy and has many other benefits, besides protecting our urban tree canopy:
- It’s safer and easier for emergency response vehicles (FIRE, EMS, police), snowplows, garbage trucks and other utility vehicles to get around neighbourhoods to deliver important services our residents rely on.
- It makes sure there are clear site lines around intersections and driveways and makes traffic signs more visible for everyone’s safety.
A properly pruned tree has a better chance of making it through a storm and other significant weather events. Fewer broken tree limbs and trees means more trees stay in the ground and off the ground!
The City has and works with certified arborists to prune municipal trees. They are highly trained and qualified experts and they follow the City’s approved Tree Pruning Standards and International Society of Arboriculture best practices.
This pruning cycle is based on:
- Tree characteristics
- External factors such as insects, weather or disease
Trees are pruned to remove weak, dead or diseased limbs. They are also pruned to create a canopy over streets and sidewalks so pedestrians, cars and service vehicles can go under the trees without damaging them. Pruning is a proven practice to help grow strong, healthy, beautiful trees.
This summer, street tree pruning will be focused in:
- The Orchard,
- Millcroft,
- Alton Village and
- the commercial area south of Upper Middle, between Appleby Line and Burloak Drive, including Regional roads.
We appreciate that Burlington residents love these trees. City staff and contractors are working to keep them healthy so we ask everyone to please be patient and understanding as this important work is done to protect the City’s urban forest.
The pruning cycle is primarily based on the characteristics of trees and the fact they are living organisms and their health can be affected by many external factors. One of the primary objectives of the grid pruning program is to mitigate any potential hazards within a tree, such as large deadwood and any obvious weakened and/or diseased limbs. Clearance pruning over sidewalks and roadways, where applicable, will be performed to allow for unimpeded pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Where required, low limbs from private trees encroaching over sidewalks or roadways will also be pruned back to allow for safe passage.
Please send any questions about to the City’s Street Tree Pruning Program to city@burlington.ca.
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