Deadline near for landowners to order trees

Water­shed landowners who would like the GRCA to plant trees on their land must place their orders by Dec. 1.

Orders must be for a minimum of 500 trees or 30 sap­lings or potted trees. The deadline for trees to be planted by landowners themselves is March 1 and orders must be for 200 seedlings or 20 saplings or more.

Tree planting in the wat­er­shed is expected to grow from 180,000 in 2008 to more than 230,000 in 2009. But that is nowhere near the rate of one million planted in the 1980s, before government funding cut­backs.

“Interest in tree planting has begun to rebound because of increased awareness and sev­eral new funding programs,” said Tracey Ryan, supervisor of conservation services with the GRCA.

A provincial initiative will see 50 million trees planted by 2020 to fight climate change. Trees Ontario is coordinating that and the GRCA is a partner to help make funds available to eligible landowners.

Including Trees Ontario, there are more than 10 pro­grams that fund tree planting on private land in the water­shed, including Wellington Coun­ty’s tremendously popular Green Legacy program. Some­times funding can come from more than one program, so funding for a project can be as high as 80 or even 100 per cent.

For more information, check the Forestry section of www.grandriver.ca, email tryan@grandriver.ca, or call 519-621-2763, extension 2269.