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| Ontario - Trees Ontario revitalizing tree planting on private land |
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2006/7/13
The Trees Ontario Foundation is revitalizing Ontario’s tree planting efforts on private land through an unprecedented partnership between organizations and landowners with an interest in replenishing Ontario’s private land forests.
“In order to increase tree planting in Ontario it must be affordable for the landowner,” emphasizes John Cary, president of Trees Ontario Foundation (TOF). “The only way TOF will be successful in significantly increasing private land tree planting in Ontario will be to find ways of reducing landowners’ tree planting costs.”
In the early 1990s, the government’s focus shifted away from private land forest management, and as a result, tree planting has declined from approximately 20 million to 2 million trees per year. One of the main reasons for this decline is that tree planting has become too expensive for most landowners.
The Trees Ontario Foundation has already provided tree planting programs to private landowners throughout Ontario. In 2004, Natural Resources Canada asked the TOF to carry out a Forest 2020 tree planting program aimed at the federal government’s climate change objectives. Working in partnership with organizations and associations across Ontario, TOF was able to offer participating landowners a 75 per cent reduction in tree planting costs. The program was successfully completed in 2005, with the establishment of 1,098 hectares of new forest on 217 sites across Ontario, making it the single largest annual tree planting effort since the early 1990s.
Having successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of the Trees Ontario partnership and the potential for an ongoing tree planting program in Ontario, the efforts of the Trees Ontario Foundation and its partners were recognized in August 2005 with a $2-million grant TOF and its partners are grateful for the investment made by the Ontario Government through the Ministry of Natural Resources.
With the Natural Spaces grant, the Trees Ontario Foundation plans to build capacity across Ontario to support community tree planting programs, identify ecologically appropriate areas for tree planting, promote the use of suitable trees, and forecast seed collection and seedling supply.
Currently, TOF is hosting several tree seed crop forecasting workshops to help improve seed collection efficiencies and restore seed inventories. TOF is also working with Eastern Ontario Model Forest to develop a web site reporting system which will allow partners to record tree seed crop forecasting observations and track tree seed development and collection areas.
The Trees Ontario Foundation is also partnering with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) to provide restoration assistance with the newly announced multimillion dollar Atlantic Salmon Restoration project in Lake Ontario. TOF’s role is to work with OFAH and local conservation authorities to provide tree planting on riparian and headwater areas where salmon restocking will occur.
The Trees Ontario Foundation is working toward a multiyear plan for steadily increasing tree planting on private land. The current statistics are alarming; as little as three per cent of forest cover remains in some regions of southern Ontario. Mature forest cover continues to decline. Between 1991 and 2005 an estimated 10,000 hectares of forest was converted to other land uses. If these trends continue without a sustained reinvestment in tree planting, our southern Ontario forests will disappear.
People who use our forests, whether for livelihood, habitation or recreation, know that they are essential to our health and our way of life in Ontario; that they clean our environment, maintain and protect water quality, provide vital wildlife and plant habitat, sustain our rural economies and provide recreational opportunities. Many in Ontario, however, do not know the significant role that private land tree planting plays in enhancing and protecting these values, nor do they appreciate that landowners require assistance in planting and maintaining forest lands.
The Foundation is launching a fund-raising effort with a goal of reducing tree planting costs so that landowners can plant more forests. Landowners can help this effort by registering support for an enhanced tree planting program in Ontario. The Trees Ontario Foundation is compiling a database of landowners interested in having trees planted on their property. Landowners will be sent information about local tree planting opportunities offered by TOF partners and will be contacted once a program becomes available.
TOF has been hosting workshops and attending events across Ontario to discuss the Foundation’s goals and to assess landowner interest in tree planting. It is only through co-operative effort that the Trees Ontario goal of planting 5,000 hectares or approximately 10 million trees per year will be reached.
If you are a property owner who wants to see more tree planting initiatives, please register your interest with the Trees Ontario Foundation. You can call or e-mail to be added to our list of interested landowners.
You can also fill out the voluntary landowner questionnaire on our web site: <www.treesontario.on.ca> under Get Involved.
For additional information on TOF’s latest activities visit <www treesontario.on.ca> or call 1-800-387-0790. |
| Source:http://www.communitypress-online.com |
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