Dustin Bajer

Designing With Nature. These are my projects.

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Development and the Future of Urban Forests

December 3, 2019 by Dustin Bajer

Tree Life Expectancy and the Cycle of Urban Development

Since trees can live longer than the buildings, they cohabit the landscape with, development has an enormous impact on the life expectancy of a tree. Developers prefer blank-slates, so levelling the site is common and preferred. Bigger buildings fetch bigger profits, and while mature trees also increase property value, they’re susceptible to damage from nearby excavation, soil compaction, and regrading.

Development Frequency and Tree Survival Rate

The life expectancy of a privately owned tree is tied to (1) how often development happens and (2) the care taken to protect on-site trees during construction. Robust building codes, routine maintenance, flexible zoning, and the housing market influence the former. Setback requirements, market demand, and a cultural appreciation for the value of trees impact the latter. Both can be influenced by strong planning and bylaws that provoke pause or shed light on the benefit of mature trees.

A Thought Experiment

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles, Heritage Plants of Edmonton Tagged With: Edmonton, Heritage Plants of Edmonton, Long Trees, Pine Trees (Pinus spp.), Prunus spp., Urban Forestry, Urbanism, Wix

What Makes A Heritage Tree? Part 1: Time

December 3, 2019 by Dustin Bajer

Time and the Heritage Value of Trees

The 2008 book, Heritage Tree of Alberta, lists 28 trees within the City of Edmonton. While I believe that this list represents a cross-section of the City’s total number of heritage trees, I think that we can draw a few lessons from its pages. Generally, three things come together to make a heritage tree; time, novelty, and narrative. In the first of three posts, I will explore the relationship between heritage trees and time.

Mature Trees Are Cultural Artifacts

You can’t plant old trees, but you can plant and nurture young ones. Mature urban trees are the result of continuous care at best and benign neglect at worst. Development, overzealous home-owners, changes to drainage patterns, pests, extreme weather, climate change, diseases, or disruption to the root zone can all result in the premature death of an urban tree, so it’s no wonder that mature trees are uncommon. This fact alone makes mature trees rare enough to give heritage status.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Dustin Bajer's Articles, Heritage Plants of Edmonton Tagged With: Elm Trees (Ulmus spp.), Heritage Plants of Edmonton, Horsechestnut and Buckeye Trees (Aesculus Spp.), Maple Trees (Acer spp.), Oak Trees (Quercus spp.), Pine Trees (Pinus spp.), Populus spp., Prunus spp., Spruce Trees (Picea spp.), Urban Forestry, Willow Trees (Salix spp.), Wix

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Dustin Bajer

Teacher, permaculture designer, master gardener, hobby beekeeper, consultant, and network nerd living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Read More

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