Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

This project seeks to understand the effects of de-icing salt accumulation in soil cells on urban street tree healthx000D
and resilience. City trees have considerable functional value as green infrastructure, and are sited as vitalx000D
contributors to urban sustainability. Substantial resources are invested by municipalities, and private industry,x000D
across Canada to introduce large-growing trees into urban areas to improve environmental quality, attractx000D
economic investment, and to enhance quality of life. City streets, however, are exceedingly harsh environmentsx000D
for tree growth. In this NSERC Engage-funded project, Ryerson University will work with industry partner,x000D
DeepRoot Canada Corp., a Vancouver-based landscape and stormwater design company, to conduct a robustx000D
investigation of the impact of de-icing salts, and the associated process of water flushing, post-snow melt, onx000D
the Londonplane (Platanus x acerifolia) trees planted along Queens Quay Boulevard, a prominent Torontox000D
streetscape that was recently revitalized with soil cell technology to improve tree survival and augmentx000D
maintenance practices. We will collect soil, environmental, and biometric data from Queens Quay trees andx000D
analyze them at Ryerson's Urban Forestry Lab with the objectives of (1) measuring de-icing salt concentrationsx000D
in soil cells; (2) isolating impacts of salt concentration and soil residence time on tree condition; and, (3)x000D
evaluating the maintenance practice of water flushing the soil in the spring to dilute and remove salt residue inx000D
the soil. This project serves as an opportunity for refining urban street tree planting methods and structural soilx000D
cell design, which will result in new practices and associated productivity for DeepRoot Canada Corp. and thex000D
broader landscaping industry in Canada.