Barrie's urban forest: tree canopy, the ice storm and the tree by-laws

How many trees does the City own?

The 2025 asset management plan counts 34,143 street trees, 6,679 park trees and 797.7 hectares of City woodlot, with a replacement value of $136.6 million$136,600,000: the largest part of the parks and natural areas portfolio, about 44% of it by value. It rates 99% of street trees and 95% of park trees in fair or better condition, and counts 78.5% of street trees as young. The 2026 budget book describes "over 42,000 City owned trees"; the City's documents round and count differently, and neither number includes the trees on private land, which the 2013 Strategy put at 93,000 of about 140,000 mapped.

Street trees are meant to be pruned on a five-year cycle, about 7,000 a year. The City pruned 5,283 in 2024, and 4,600 a year on average over five years. It planted 1,982 trees in 2023 and 2,027 in 2024, and plans 2,000 a year.

How much of Barrie is tree canopy?

The 2013 Strategy mapped forest on 19.6% of Barrie's land and estimated the full canopy, forest plus individual trees, at "around 23-25%", adding that an actual measurement "has never been completed". The asset plan's 30.5% for 2018 comes from a City canopy assessment whose method has not been published, so the two figures cannot be read as growth. The plan says the measure is updated every five years and its target is "to be confirmed after next canopy assessment"; no 2023 assessment has been found.

What has emerald ash borer cost Barrie?

Ash made up about 10% of Barrie's street trees in 2013. The City approved a 15-year emerald ash borer program in 2011, and the Strategy budgeted it at $70,000 to $289,000 a year from 2011 to 2026. The staff reports that set out how many ash trees were removed, treated and replaced are not available to this site, so no total is given here.

Can I cut down a tree on my property in Barrie?

Barrie's private tree by-law covers woodlots only, so it sets no rule for a single tree on a private lot. By-law 2014-115, passed September 15, 2014, applies to land of at least 0.2 hectares with a set density of trees. Fines can reach $100,000, or more as a special fine.

On April 5, 2023, General Committee recommended repealing and replacing it with a by-law covering individual trees, hiring an Urban Forester and a Restoration Ecologist, and an interim fee of $57,500 per hectare of woodland removed and $500 per tree. On April 19, Council deleted the first two parts, withdrew the replacement by-law "as the by-law is no longer required", and kept the interim fee. In October 2023 council adopted an Ecological Offsetting Policy: where trees come down without a permit, the fee is $140,500 per hectare and $1,220 per tree, and the first priority for the money is 1,000 trees along the waterfront. The 2026 capital plan carries that waterfront program at $500,000 over ten years.

What did the 2025 ice storm do to Barrie's trees?

The City's capital plan says the ice storm of March 30, 2025 destroyed more than 10% of street and open-space park trees and damaged another 20%, leaving at least 4,500 to be ground out and replanted. In June 2025 council approved an Ice Storm Replanting and Recovery project of $3.8 million$3,766,200 from the Tax Capital Reserve, with temporary Urban Forester and program coordinator positions. By mid July 2026 about 1,400 trees had been replanted, and the City expects to finish in fall 2027. The Mayor's announcement of the replanting speaks of a $2.1 million$2,100,000 investment; neither the City's page nor the release explains the difference from the amount council approved.

What is not public

The 2018 canopy assessment itself and its method; whether the five-yearly reassessment due in 2023 was done; the forest management plan the 2013 Strategy promised; and the staff reports behind the emerald ash borer program and the 2023 and 2025 decisions, which this site could not retrieve.