Ice storm cleanup & tree assessments

Alert level

Medium

Last updated

4:15pm Thu. Jul. 31

There is a long cleanup ahead, as approximately 12,000 street trees, and many more in parks and natural areas, were damaged or destroyed by the March ice storm. Tree Risk Assessments are complete on streets and in parks and trails, and assessments continue in natural areas and watercourses to assess the number and determine priority of cleanup activities.

For your safety, please stay out of trails through forested areas and treed areas in parks, and refrain from attempting cleanup in areas that may remain unsafe.

Cleanup crews operating in priority/safety order

To report any downed trees on or from City property, please contact Service Barrie at 705-726-4242 or ServiceBarrie@barrie.ca. Do not call 911 for downed trees unless it’s a life-threatening emergency.

Priority	Status
1. Clear street tree debris from roads, driveways and sidewalks, and remove immediate hazards	🗸 Complete
2. Remove piled brush off boulevards	🗸 Complete
3. Caution off and assess hazards in parks, and collect debris off the ground in parks	🗸 Complete
4. Remove damaged trees and branches that fell into private property from City-owned parks and woodlot trees	In Progress
5. Tree Risk Assessments of all City street trees and park/trail trees damaged during the ice storm	🗸 Complete
6. Remove all structurally damaged City trees (street, parks, trails, natural areas, watercourses)	In Progress
7. Prune all broken and damaged branches from City trees (street, parks, trails, natural areas, watercourses)	In Progress
8. Assessments and clearing branch/tree debris from City waterways and stormwater management areas	In Progress
9. Clear debris and remove hazards from trails	In Progress
10. Remove all stumps of trees destroyed by the ice storm	In Progress
11. Replant trees	Starting spring 2026

Following the ice storm, Mayor Alex Nuttall put a callout to his Ontario Big City Mayors colleagues, and in an overwhelming show of support, several cities generously offered up equipment and crews to assist with Barrie’s cleanup. The City extends gratitude to the many supporting municipalities that provided crews and assistance with emergency cleanup operations during the month of April.

Tree assessments underway

A team of International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborists and Tree Risk Assessment Qualified experts has been assessing all City trees damaged during ice storm. Tree Risk Assessments are complete on streets and in parks and trails, and assessments continue in natural areas and watercourses.

All City trees are being reviewed for structural integrity and safety and will be scheduled for corrective pruning or full removal and replanting based on the results of assessment. If you see Davey Tree, Kodiak Tree or Diamond Tree staff looking at trees in your neighbourhood, that is the work they are completing.

The assessors are identifying whether a damaged tree can be saved for a pruning or is a current or short-term-future risk of hazard. Trees identified as structurally unsound will be scheduled for removal at a future date based on a hazard-level priority. If the tree has been identified as needing removal, is it because it has been identified as a risk to public safety or will decline and die from the damage sustained.

As crews are assessing trees, if a tree is determined to be an immediate risk to public safety it will be removed immediately. For other trees, door knockers with more information will be delivered in advance of any action taken for specific street trees. As part of the City's forestry program, all locations where City trees have been removed will be assessed for replanting, as it is our intention to replace City-owned trees destroyed during the ice storm.

The replacement planting program was approved by Council on June 18, 2025. The planting of trees to replace damaged trees is estimated to begin in spring 2026 and take at least one year to complete.

Debris collection concluded

Residents were asked to place all storm-related tree debris at the curb by June 1 to guarantee pickup during the City's final curbside collection pass the week of June 2. Debris collection concluded on June 7.

Reminder: Properly packaged yard waste can be placed curbside in the yard waste collection program. Alternatively, residents may bring yard waste to the Barrie Landfill to be composted.

Frequently Asked Questions

The City has been working to clear and remove storm debris from across the city since the ice storm. There is a long cleanup ahead, as approximately 12,000 street trees, and many more in parks and natural areas, were damaged or destroyed by the ice storm.
Cleanup crews continue to operate in priority/safety order. Crews continue to remove all structurally damaged City trees, and prune all broken and damaged branches from City trees. Removing all stumps of trees destroyed by the ice storm is expected to be complete in spring 2026. Replanting trees destroyed by the storm is expected to be complete in 2027.
The City’s curbside collection contractor, Emterra, is responsible for collecting yard waste. Yard waste collection is proceeding as normally scheduled (every other week opposite your garbage collection week) starting Monday, April 7, through November.
Yard waste collection drivers are equipped with collection truck equipment that allows only for the safe collection of properly packaged yard waste.
Please visit barrie.ca/YardWasteCollection for full information.
Backyard assessments are ongoing. As of June 27, backyard assessments are 95% complete. Staff and/or contracted Certified Tree Risk Assessors will drop off notices, inspect trees and provide priority work schedules to clean up trees fallen in yards, prune broken branches and remove hazards behind the residences in the park or City-owned forested areas. There are approximately 125 km of forest edges to inspect and manage, so this will take a significant amount of time. Inspections and cleanup will be prioritized based on the hazard assessments.
The City's Community Emergency Management Coordinator confirmed that a state of emergency was not declared because there were no City infrastructure failures and all emergency services remained intact, resourced, and capable of accessing properties across Barrie.
In response to the ice storm, the City of Barrie declared a significant weather event on March 29, 2025. This declaration was made in accordance with the Ontario Regulation for Minimum Maintenance Standards for Municipal Highways. As of 11am on April 25, 2025, the significant weather event was declared to be over since no winter road or sidewalk maintenance activity was taking place nor was there expected to be any given the warmer weather forecasted, streets in Barrie that were closed due to fallen trees or branches were fully open, and crews had cleared sidewalks of tree debris.