Little Forests Kingston

Meeting Saturday at 10:00

Meeting: Saturday March 4 10:00 am - 11:30

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83651860259?pwd=QUIrR1cwbmxadm5jbVl4WldLWUl1UT09

Agenda:

• 10:00 - 10:10 opening circle

• 10:10 - 10:15 overview of decision-making framework by Hannah

• 10:15 - 10:30 small groups in breakout rooms use decision making framework to work through a decision

• 10:30 - 11:00 breakout rooms report back & group feedback

• 11:00 - 11:20 reconvene in breakout rooms to update based on feedback

• 11:20 - wrap & closing circle

Who’s working on what

• Maureen has begun co-designing the Forest Stewardship Network with Rotary. Check out the Miro board (screenshot above) and add ideas. Want to help co-design? Let Maureen know.

• Joanne is coordinating branding for LFK, partially funded by Nature Canada (though we need to fundraise additional money as design more expensive than we’d hoped). Still time to add ideas & inspiration captured on this Miro board. We’re meeting with BmDodo Strategic Design today.

• Josh did a first draft of LFK bylaws. He used both the federal government’s tool for creating By-laws and By-Laws he is reviewing for another Board. Please review and add your feedback on proposed Bylaws using comments. 

• Joyce is working on the LFK website (using NationBuilder). Keen on helping with the website, let me know. As part of their design work, BmDodo Strategic Design will be creating the visual look for the website.

Influencing City policy

Influencing City Policy is going to become an important as a focus area. We’ll build on the delegations we already presented to City Council and map out a strategy around our City policy work. If you’re interested in getting involved - either by doing a delegation at one of the upcoming meetings or by mapping out an approach to influencing the City - let me know.

• Motion for reconsideration of tree bylaw March 22. Lisa Osanic said a big flaw in current tree bylaw allows developers to pay a tax for chopping down trees, which they then add to their bottom line and charge more. So doesn’t help preserve any trees. If you’re interested in researching best practices around tree bylaws to support the motion or in doing a related delegation let me know.

• Motion to designated a heritage tree March 22. Jim Neill and Lisa Osanic are looking at whether they could designate the 220 year old Tannery Oak and a tree on Sir John A’s property as heritage trees to protect them from being cut down. I think this is separate to the motion above, but need to confirm. Astrid is willing to do a delegation on the importance of elder trees and Jane is willing to research and do a delegation on heritage trees across Ontario municipalities.

• Tannery public meeting March 24: No Clearcuts Kingston is working on preserving the Tannery Forest. Because of their work, Rob Kiley put forward a motion to City Council for a public hearing.

• Tree Information Report April 12: A tree report, including the first canopy count since 2011, is being presented to the EITP committee. Last tree report was in December 2020 and the canopy count was last updated in the 2011 Urban Forest Management Plan. Lisa thinks the report will basically say “hey, look at the numbers, we’re ok.” This will be a really important meeting and a chance for some of the delegations we weren’t able to present at the previous meeting.

• Biodiversity (nature positive) motion: Lisa Osanic is looking at introducing a motion around a biodiversity strategy. If you’re interested in researching biodiversity strategies in other cities (may not be called biodiversity strategies, but strategies for ecological, nature positive cities). - biodiversity plan

Let’s start thinking about becoming nature positive

Can LFK help Kingston become nature positive by 2030? Brampton is one Ontario city moving in this direction with their Eco Park strategy a great document we can use for inspiration as we move forward with LFK strategy. "In 2040, Brampton will be a mosaic of sustainable urban places, sitting within an interconnected green park network, with its people sitting within an interconnected green park network, with its people as environmental stewards - targeting 'one-planet' living."

Another useful resource is this Best practices guide to natural heritage systems planning by Ontario Nature. “Greenway planning is about maintaining, enhancing and restoring livable landscapes in this highly developed region. The Greenway is a systems-based approach to biodiversity conservation, which aims to establish and interconnected web of core natural areas and natural corridors.” In this guide, they reference City of Kingston’s Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment as a best practice.

Fuzzy action moments are building blocks of transformation

How does urban transformation happen? How can we influence it? This is a great academic paper on finding feasible action towards urban transformations. “Planners are confronted with an ongoing series of relatively discrete but often ill-defined (i.e. fuzzy) moments, which may (or may not) permit intervention towards urban sustainability transformations. Each moment involves juggling competing expectations and objectives, mediating between interests (e.g. among elected officials, industry groups, unions, and citizens), ensuring legal obligations are adhered to, and incorporating scientific and other sources of knowledge into decision-making. Hence, from the perspective of a planner, urban sustainability transformations appear not as an overarching or coherent system trajectory to follow, but rather as an unfolding series of moments requiring interpretation and decision-making under uncertainty, often without guarantee of clear or satisfactory outcomes.”

The article includes some great tables of political, social and legal feasbility.

What does it take to shift a system

Here’s a guide I found on system shifting social innovation. “Probably our greatest hope is that these ideas help to transform the impossible into the possible. The Social Innovation Lab emphasizes not only imagining high potential interventions but also gaining system sight, redefining problems, and identifying opportunities in the broader context with the potential to tip systems in positive directions.” Contains a series of potential workshops such as Seeing the System.