Chapman, Graham Keith, "Urban Forestry: Municipal Benefits and Management"

In this thesis the urban forest is defined as all the trees within an urban municipality. Currently urban forest management is inadequate due to lack of funding, poor municipal attitudes, and lack of public interest in the urban forest. It is important that a municipality be involved in the proper management of the urban forest in order to realize all of its benefits.

The purpose of this thesis is twofold. It provides information about the benefits of the urban forest and its proper management, and it proposes tools with which municipalities can properly manage their urban forests. A model by‑law is suggested as a starting point to enable a municipality to manage its urban forest to its full potential.

The procedure that this thesis follows is to examine the benefits of the urban forest to describe how the urban forest is currently managed by municipalities, and to suggest changes in policy that would ensure good management of the urban forest.

The thesis concludes that four key subjects must be addressed before good urban forestry management can take place: education about the urban forest; the role of planning; changing municipal attitudes; and concern over the private portion of the urban forest.