Education & Innovation
An outdoor classroom and a proving ground
Education and innovation are two of the ways a citizen-led organization can contribute: rooted in evidence, open to new ideas, and shared with the community and our public partners every step of the way.
Rooted in evidence
Growing the urban forest, scientifically
Two research-backed ideas guide the green side of the network.
The 3-30-300 rule
A simple benchmark for greener, healthier neighbourhoods, one we champion for every corner of the region.
Miyawaki mini-forests
Dense pockets of native trees that grow up to ten times faster than conventional plantings, bringing shade, habitat and cooler air to small spaces along the trails.
AI eyes on trail health
We are exploring AI tools that read simple ride videos, the kind anyone records on a morning loop, to assess trail conditions and ecosystem health along the corridors.
Ordinary rides become continuous field surveys: surface wear, drainage issues, vegetation change and canopy growth, spotted early and mapped over time.
Researcher or AI builder? We’re looking for collaborators to help shape this work.
Every ride, in every season, becomes data.
What the tool will see
From video to insight
Trail condition
Surface wear, erosion, flooding and obstacles, flagged automatically, located precisely, prioritized for maintenance partners.
Ecosystem health
Canopy cover, seasonal change, invasive species spread and the growth of our mini-forests, measured year over year from the same footage.
Network intelligence
A living dashboard of the whole system: evidence that helps municipalities and funders direct resources where they matter most.
Status
Innovation in development
This program is in active development with our AI collaborators. We are deliberately building it in the open, sharing progress as milestones are reached rather than promising dates.
- Now: footage collection protocols and pilot analysis on selected corridors
- Next: automated detection models tuned to Acadian forest and trail conditions
- Later: a shared network-health dashboard for partners and the public
Privacy by design. Footage is processed for infrastructure and ecology only. Faces and licence plates are blurred, and no footage is used to identify individuals.
Mill Creek Nature Park, Riverview. Every ride, in every season, becomes data.
Innovate with us
From AI research to trail engineering: if you build things that could make this network smarter, we want to hear from you.