Organizers were hoping for 20 to 30 people, but the Trees for Minto committee welcomed over 100 to a barbecue and tree information evening on July 15.
The event was hosted on the Harriston-area farm of Melvin and Joanna Steckle.
With the success of neighbouring Trees for Mapleton as a model, it appears interest is also high in Minto and this first public meeting on “planting for the future” offered the opportunity to learn about shelter belts, windbreaks, watercourse plantings and living snow fences.
Parts of Harriston are floodprone and work has already been started upstream to slow down the water during the runoff season.
Unfortunately it was also necessary to give notice to residents of the local trailer park that because they live in the floodplain they would be given 10 years to relocate.
Most of the protective work is usually done in the country thus the initial name for the project was Trees For Minto Farms; however, the committee suggested that since the aim was to get the whole community to realize the benefits of trees that the “farms” be dropped from the title, and thus “Trees For Minto” is now formally underway.
Peter Williams, a forester/ecologist, surprised many by recommending strategic removal of trees to combat the emerald ash borer threat.
The ash tree is an aggressive colonizer and will quickly take over abandoned fields and lower lands. Ash trees grow in “even-age stands” and are tough hardwood trees so the impending loss of the trees is a blow to any reforestation program.
Williams stressed the need for diversity and forest management, with solutions ranging from thinning out and removing young ash saplings, to letting the understory shrubs and trees grow, or letting the fast growing ashes remain and hope for a lumber harvest.
It is anticipated there’s a five-to-10-year window for decision making. If current hedgerows and shelter belts have an abundance of ash trees, landowners are urged to start now to plant new species between them.
Rob Johnson, manager of Wellington’s Green Legacy Program, has been teaching students from Kindergarten to Grade 8 about the life of a tree, and how to plant, grow and care for it.
Now at the l0-year mark, the Green Legacy Program has planted more than a million trees and been introduced to, and assisted by, 325 classrooms in Wellington County.
Geoff King of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority referenced watershed challenges and solutions. He said he is pleased there are free tree sources which can greatly reduce the cost of shelter belts, windbreaks and block plantings. In addition there are many types of grant programs available for the different counties, and they try to match stock (seedlings, saplings or three-to seven-foot trees) to the individual project requirements. However, he cautioned “it must always be remembered that after every planting there’s the general maintenance of weed control, pruning and thinning.”
The goal of the initial information session was to generate awareness among Minto residents and encourage planting of shrubs and trees. In addition to the speakers, several booths offering information were set up at the event.
submitted by Willa Wick
