York Region has seen immense benefits from tree planting programs

Simon Martin
May 15, 2019
Yorkregion.com

Clusters of forest line the rural roads of York Region. But the bevy of trees weren’t always the status quo in Northern York Region. Take the Bendor and Graves Tract of the York Region Forest in East Gwillimbury. Forest Conservation expert Peter Kuitenbrouwer said residents would be amazed that around 100 years ago there was nary a tree in the area.

Settlers cut down forest in southern Ontario to farm and as it turned out some land you couldn’t grow on. “Nothing would grow there. You couldn’t plant a crop,” he said. The erosion from the sandy soil got so bad that Kuitenbrouwer said snow plows had to come to plow sand off the roads in York Region.

That’s when the provincial government stepped and invested in tree planting programs. It turns out that red pines were one of the few things that would grow in the sandy soil in the area. The ground gets carpeted with the pine needles over the years and eventually you have nice forest floor of soil, Kuitenbrouwer said.

On May 11th, more than 200 residents took part in a tree planting run by Forests Ontario at the Bendor and Graves Tract. But as the group put seedlings into the ground on the sunny day, a key program for Forests Ontario is being shuttered.

The 50 Million Tree Program, which aimed to plant that many trees by 2025, was eliminated by the provincial government as part of the 2019 budget. The conservation program, which has helped 4,000 landowners in Ontario by subsidizing the planting of 2.3 million trees annually, is being eliminated in July.

Kerry McLaven, Director of Operations for Forests Ontario, said the cuts to the program are disappointing siting the numerous benefits trees have on the local habitat including flood prevention and soil erosion.

“Over 280 landowners in York Region have benefited from the 50 Million Tree Program,” she said. “Over 27 million trees have been planted to date under the 50 Million Tree Program with over 630,000 in York Region,” she said.

There are few better places to see the benefits of tree planting then northern York Region. Before it was decided that trees needed to be planted on the land, McLaven said the deforestation had led to massive sand dunes that resembled a desert.

In an effort to counteract this issue, the provincial government initiated several reforestation programs. Land was purchased by the municipality and leased to the provincial government for reforestation/restoration. The York Regional Forest was started through this program and managed by the Department of Lands and Forests, today the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, until 1998.

Today York Regional Forest is made up of 2,300 hectares of protected land, located in different parts of the region. Open every day of year are 18 properties with more than 120 kilometres of trail available to the public.

McLaven said in the wake of cuts to the program many people have reached out to see how they can help. She suggested they visit the Forests Ontario website where they can learn more about volunteering, donating or planting trees. While they have lost significant funding McLaven said the organization still has many partners that it works with across the province. For more information visit forestsontario.ca