In Memoriam: Mike Allen
Written by Mike Rosen, Former President of Tree Canada
Mike Allen was part of the “first wave” of professional urban foresters in Canada. He passed away on June 8th in Kelowna, B.C. at the age of 79.
Born in England, he came to Canada with his family at an early age, graduating from high school in Scarborough, ON. He received a Bachelor of Science in Forestry (BScF) from the University of Toronto in 1970 and then worked for two years in Nigeria, teaching about sustainable tree practices and directing reforestation efforts there. He received his Master of Science in Forestry (MScF) in 1975 and was a part of the Shade Tree Laboratory; established by the grandfather of urban forestry – U of T forestry professor Erik Jorgensen in 1962. Jorgensen oversaw Mike’s Master’s thesis which used sociological principles to study the effect of trees on property values in the Beaches area of Toronto – a concept very much ahead of its time.
While at U of T, Mike met his wife, Susan, who was a sociology student at the time. He married her in1973 and they were lifelong partners for 52 years.
Upon graduation he worked for Ecoplans Ltd. In Kitchener, ON and for Centre Gas in Edmonton, AB. Mike eventually was recruited to be the City of Winnipeg’s urban forester by John Hreno in 1988. He stayed in that position until 2001, building an urban forestry program that is known as one of the best in Canada for its successes in maintaining canopy cover in a city that was a natural prairie.
He instinctively understood the crucial role that city council played in maintaining canopy cover. He was fearless in contacting the media to seek their support to preserve Winnipeg’s trees. Indeed, when media “gag orders” were issued by municipal managers, Mike was often an exception – his natural media skills being that good. He was a regular columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, on Dorothy Dobbie’s gardening show on CJOB and in the Canadian Gardener magazine.
One of his proudest career achievements was his steadfast refusal to a request by the actor Brad Pitt to cut the trees in the Exchange District for the 1994 film, “Legends of the Fall”, filmed in Winnipeg because of its resemblance to midwestern American cities of another era.
He understood the power of citizen support and cultivated relationships with the Coalition to Save the Elms, a group of concerned citizens who came together in 1992 to preserve North America’s largest remaining urban elm forest from the devastation of Dutch Elm Disease. The Coalition developed into Trees Winnipeg in which he maintained close relationships with Gerry Engel, Matt Vinet and Richard Westwood among others. Martha Barwinsky, herself once the Director of the Coalition, learned much from Mike, eventually becoming the city’s urban forester.
In 2001, after leaving the City of Winnipeg, he developed an urban forestry consulting company, Viburnum Tree Experts. He provided consulting services to universities, residents, developers, legal cases, and others as “Dr. Tree”. Mike authored books including, “Dr. Tree’s Guide to the Common Diseases of Urban Prairie Trees”. He collaborated in the International Society of Arboriculture’s Certified Arborist course. He was a judge for Communities-in-Bloom which influenced his decision to move to Kelowna, B.C. in 2021, along with the fact that his son, James, and daughter-in-law, Sarah, had moved there previously.
In 2022, his son James scrawled the words “Grandma & Grandpa” on his (favourite) Starbucks coffee cup, indicating that there was a grandchild on the way – a life changing experience for the family.
Mike had a vast knowledge of trees and our connections with nature, and was a champion of the arboriculture and urban forestry discipline. He loved to share his knowledge and experiences with others, and he mentored many. To those who knew him, Mike exemplified not only the very best in an urban forester, but was also a person whose passion, kindness and honesty can never be forgotten.
