If you can plant 500 trees, this program is for you

More than 600,000 trees have been planted in York Region through the Forests Ontario program, which is accepting applications now

Newmarkettoday.ca
Dec. 11, 2019

An outdoor education teacher in King City, who has helped to plant thousands of trees on his school’s property, says he welcomes the continuation of Forests Ontario’s popular 50 Million Tree Program (50 MTP).

Andrew MacMillan, who works at King City’s Country Day School, facilitated the planting of more than 8,000 trees on the school’s property in 2018.

“Forests Ontario made it very easy and affordable for us to reforest our school property,” MacMillan said. “The program allowed us to involve the students, too. The Grade 9 students were the most actively involved in the planting, with some assistance from the Grade 11 environmental science students.The Grade 3 students helped with watering the trees."

The 50 MTP is a large-scale tree planting program for land and property owners with the goal of increasing forest cover in Ontario. It provides professional technical assistance, as well as financial assistance to plant trees. Forests Ontario announced that they are now taking applications for the program.

“The 50 MTP is better and more accessible than ever,” said Rob Keen, CEO of non-profit charity, Forests Ontario. “The new, expanded criteria opens the program to more land and property owners, meaning more trees in the ground. It’s a win-win for landowners, who save on tree planting costs, and for the environment.”

Under the new criteria, anyone with room to plant at least 500 trees can apply. The revised program creates more opportunities for urban and suburban tree planting.

At Country Day School, students planted Red Pine, Red Oak, Black Walnut, White Pine, White Spruce and Eastern White Cedar trees, taking care to choose spots where the trees would thrive.

Red Pine prefers drier, sandy conditions, whereas White Spruce prefers more moisture and Cedar likes a damp environment. Since the plantings, students and teachers have seen more wildlife on the property, such as deer, coyote, rabbit, wild turkey, and waterfowl.

Forests Ontario has facilitated the planting of more than 600,000 trees in York Region.

Overall, Forests Ontario has planted more than 29 million trees through the 50 MTP. This has been achieved in partnership with over 80 dedicated partners, such as conservation authorities, stewardship groups and First Nations. More than 5,000 landowners have planted trees, yielding 16,000 hectares of new forest and sequestering over 22,000 tonnes of carbon annually. The 50 MTP also supports 300 full-time, seasonal forest jobs.

Those wishing to apply for the 50 MTP can visit www.forestsontario.ca/50MTP.