Last month, the OUFC and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Forestry Graduate Student Association put on a half-day pop-up up conference at the University of Toronto. It was a great morning of candid urban forestry discussions among students and professionals alike.
The morning started off with a presentation on the OUFC. An overview of the recent projects that the OUFC has been involved in was given, and the room was encouraged to join our efforts by becoming members or volunteers. For more information on how you can help the OUFC, please contact us.
Our first speaker, Stuart Livingstone – a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, gave a captivating talk on the consequences of plant invasion in a peri-urban ecosystem. Stuart’s innovative work draws connections between the social and environmental dimensions of Dog Strangling Vine invasions in Rouge National Park.
The second talk of the day was from Janani Sivarajah, a PhD candidate and course instructor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Forestry. Janani presented the exciting results from her recent novel study on urban trees in schoolyards and how they affect student learning. Janani gave an engaging presentation on her work that will help strengthen the argument for having more trees and more biodiversity on school properties.
A big thank you to all who attended. It’s always so wonderful to see people’s passion for the urban forest. We look forward to seeing you all again at our annual conference in November!