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The Urban Forest Conference is Western Australia’s premier urban forest event, bringing together Government, industry and community leaders to discuss ways to provide resilient and equitable urban forests for communities. Now in its third year, the conference attracted over 350 delegates in 2023, with tickets to next year’s event selling fast. The theme of the conference is Raising Resilience, focusing on the unprecedented challenges our urban forests face due to ongoing loss through development, the impact of climate change and biosecurity threats.
The conference features a keynote address by Freya Thomas, Senior Urban Forester at the City of Melbourne, where delegates will be inspired by the City’s bold approach to strategic planning of the urban forest in Melbourne in the face of increasing urban density.
We welcome highly-regarded Senior Urban Planner, City of Melbourne - Freya Thomas, to the stage as our Keynote Speaker.
Freya’s focus is undertaking the strategic planning of the urban forest in Melbourne; a project guided by the Urban Forest Strategy (2012) with implementation informed by the Urban Forest Precinct Plans (under renewal) and supported by the Tree Policy (2021).
The objective of this address will be to critically reflect on the progress achieved and challenges which have arisen, such as increases in urban density. Freya will share learnings we can take away regarding urban forest management and its future.
Walk away from UFC 2025 with tools and insights on how to engage with communities to drive the success of your own local government’s urban development with access to these invaluable insights from an experienced astute peer.
The conference includes eight concurrent sessions throughout the day for delegates to attend:
For the first time, the Conference will offer a selection of Field Tours on Thursday, 13 February. In a partnership with the Perth Inner City Group, member Local Governments will lead site visits that explore how to optimise tree growth in highly urbanised environments, retain trees in public realm redevelopment and enable community leadership of greening projects.
WALGA acknowledges the continuing connection of Aboriginal people to Country, culture and community. We embrace the vast Aboriginal cultural diversity throughout Western Australia, including Boorloo (Perth), on the land of the Whadjuk Nyoongar People, where WALGA is located and we acknowledge and pay respect to Elders past and present.
