Tree the County

Volunteers plant trees at Wilkinson Memorial Park

Dozens of volunteers gathered to plant native trees at the Wilkinson Memorial Park in Waupoos on Saturday morning. This was the second such planting organized by Tree the County and was led by Celia Johnstone from Tree Canada. The trees were purchased thanks to funds donated by the LCBO and the Home Hardware tree planting initiative, as well as $500 raised by Evan Nash. Johnstone is a professional forester and leads events such as this one in southern Ontario from Niagara to Kingston. She said it was critically important to bring partners on board to cover the cost of the trees. “That’s the way we need to work together to get the trees in the ground. Because if we don’t work together as partners, the fact that I work for a massive organization that plants trees every day is of no benefit whatsoever if I don’t have the money to spend to buy trees, and we need sponsors to do that. And without volunteers to help put the trees in the ground, nothing happens,” she said. Tree Canada is the largest tree-planting charity in Canada. They plant trees in conservation areas, in parks and on school grounds. They also lead massive reforestation projects in areas where there have been natural disasters that has caused the forest to be heavily damaged. In Canada, the biggest loss of trees is caused by forest fires. Johnstone said that after the massive fires in Fort McMurray in 2016, Tree Canada planted over 70,000 trees in three months, and there is an ongoing program for constantly getting trees in the ground. Over the past 30 years, Tree Canada has planted 84 million trees.

Johnstone said that one of the key things the Tree Canada does is to teach people how to properly plant trees. “We are losing trees faster than we are gaining them, so it’s absolutely essential to get as many trees in the ground as we can. However, it’s not just a numbers game. The most important thing is that the trees are planted correctly,” she said. Several experienced tree planters were on hand to help, including Kevin Halloran and Sharon Toth. They demonstrated how to properly plant trees, showing how deep and wide the hole has to be, how to loosen tree roots that had been confined in a plastic container, and how to backfill the hole and add surface mulch.

The soil cover in Wilkinson Park contains fewer rocks than typical County soil, but that’s a relative comparison. There were still plenty of stones that had to be dug out before many of the trees were planted. Mayor Steve Ferguson was present and he thanked all the volunteers for their efforts. He noted that the South Shore Joint Initiative is also looking at ways to increase the tree cover in the County. “We, as a municipal government, certainly understand the need to replant, particularly given the issue we have with ash trees and the emerald ash borer,” he said. Evan Nash said he was happy to see so many families come out the tree planting event. It was through his effort that the Wellington Home Hardware store was able to obtain the tree planting grant from the parent company’s head office. “Home Hardware, for as long as I can remember, has been involved with Tree Canada, and has spent $1.7 million on trees since the beginning of the partnership.” Following the heavy work of tree planting, the volunteers enjoyed BBQ’d hotdogs and some delicious treats provided by Tree the County.