Aubrey Benson - Urban Forest Planner - M.Sc. Forestry, B.Sc. Ecosystem Sciences and Restoration

Aubrey is an urban ecologist passionate about developing sustainable, flourishing urban communities. She earned her MSc from the University of British Columbia’s (UBC’s) Urban Ecology & Sustainability Lab, researching the links between urban landscape heterogeneity and microclimates. With a background in restoration ecology, she is particularly interested in how urban forestry can help public and private landowners maximize ecosystem services while minimizing disservices. Aubrey has led multiple projects at UBC, including developing a biodiversity and microclimate monitoring framework for UBC campus, redesigning the campus tree inventory protocol, and analysing UBC’s first tree inventory to produce its inaugural urban forest report. She has also managed urban forestry projects for the City of Kelowna, including a tree planting feasibility analysis and a tree species selection database.