Media Release: Vancouver Public Space Network launches “Great Trees” initiative to promote Vancouver’s urban forest

Talk about numerological alignment!  At about 4:22 this afternoon we sent out the following media advisory about the Great Tree project.

We’ve included it here in case anyone wants to have a look.

– Great Tree team

MEDIA RELEASE

Vancouver Public Space Network launches “Great Trees” initiative to promote Vancouver’s urban forest

Thursday, April 22, 2010

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Public Space Network (VPSN) is marking Earth Day 2010 with the launch of a new initiative to raise awareness about Vancouver’s urban forest.

“Vancouver’s Great Trees” is part contest, part community-based research project – designed to inventory and map the city’s arboreal landscape.  As part of the initiative, Vancouverites are invited to submit a photo of their favourite tree, along with a short statement about what makes it “great.”  These photos will be collected on a blog and an interactive Google map, and each week, one entry will be randomly selected to win a prize.  The competition runs through summer 2010.

According to Andrew Pask, Director, the Great Trees initiative will be built on a foundation of community input.  “We’re asking for everyone’s help in identifying the stars of the city’s urban forest.  The idea is to create a permanent record and community-based map of the city’s favourite leafy giants.”

“In the course of our work, we’ve had lots of people tell us that they have a ‘top’ tree, one that they have an attachment to for one reason or another.  Now we’re asking them to help us give their favourite tree a bit of profile and put it on a map”, says Emily Jubenvill, VPSN Greenspaces Coordinator.

The larger goals of the project are to raise awareness about Vancouver’s urban forest, and the role that it plays in fostering a liveable, environmentally sustainable city.  To that end, Great Trees will also involve the development of a “toolkit” of educational resources that will enable people to learn about the city’s trees.

Further information about the Great Trees imitative, including submission guidelines, can be found on-line at www.GreatTrees.ca, or by writing to GreatTrees [at] vancouverpublicspace.ca.  The

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