De-icing salt movement in structural soil cells and its implications for urban tree performance

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