Cranbrook's Urban Forest

This past summer we posted an article entitled ‘The Value of a Tree’. It has been a great year for Cranbrook’s Urban Forest and to see the value of trees being recognised and acted upon truly makes a person more optimistic. As well as the environmental benefits trees provide there is the ‘feel good’ aspect of being around plants of all kinds that makes any city more welcoming. One of the reasons may be what is known as ‘race memory’. In humans’ hunter-gatherer days, trees provided security and a place to hide from enemies. There is still something about sitting under or beside a tree that makes a person feel safer. Any gardener will tell you what a stress release and calming influence plants are. Working with the soil and knowing plants puts a person in touch with our planet and its natural cycles. By the number of positive comments heard over the summer and fall about the greening up of our city, it is obvious that even to non-gardeners. plant life helps sustain their well-being.


The City of Cranbrook Public Works Department has planted at least 75 new trees this season and the College of the Rockies has recently added more to its new landscaping. Cranbrook at one time had a separate Parks Department with its own greenhouses and full time city gardeners such as Bob Willis. To see a return to serious horticultural management within the city is encouraging. Our Urban Forest is now once again under the watchful eye of three qualified horticulturists and arborists and once again we can be optimistic that our urban forest will continue to sustain us in more ways than one.

'Autumn Blaze' Maples, Baker Park 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

City Crew planting the columnar Red Maples on the strip in the Spring

 
 

Balled and burlapped trees awaiting planting at The College of the Rockies

The most recent additions to the urban forest are the trees planted beside the renovated, new home for part of the East Kootenay Credit Union.  In this picture Don Holt assists in the planting.