Tree planting session in Spruce Park a vital step in ice storm recovery

Mississauga News
April 28, 2014
By Jason Spencer

When you consider the damage caused by the asian long-horned beetle, emerald ash borer and last December's infamous ice storm, our city's trees need all the help they can get.

Armed with shovels and gardening gloves, some 100 volunteers were there to answer the distress signal Saturday morning (April 26) by planting 500 trees and shrubs in Spruce Park.

The planting event marked the City of Mississauga's one-year anniversary of its One Million Trees initiative, which has seen nearly 89,000 trees take root.

The green program is part of the City's Strategic Plan and aims to hit the magic number in the next 20 years.

Applauding the efforts by tree planters across the city so far, Ward 1 Councillor Jim Tovey reminded the crowd that there's a long road ahead.

"We have to plant 911,000 more," said Tovey, noting that Mississauga has already lost 70,000 trees to the emerald ash borer, 7,000 to the asian long-horned beetle in Malton and 10,000 to the ice storm.

"That's a total of 87,000 trees, so we've got a lot of work to do to get everything going," he said.

"With all the damage that was done to our tree canopy by the ice storm, today and every other day we do planting is critically and especially important," he continued. "The One Million Tree program is a wonderful way for our community to recover from the damage of that storm."

Laura Piette, director of the City's Parks and Forestry division, informed attendees of the vital role trees play in the our ecosystem.

"(Trees) improve our water quality, our air quality, are beautiful to look at, and also all the economic development that it brings to communities," she told the crowd.

Members of Credit Valley Conservation, Ecosoure and Evergreen also came out to educate attendees about environmental stewardship.

Following the planting, volunteers also got to try their hand at building a birdhouse.

Tovey encouraged residents to plant trees at home as well and to then visit the One Million Trees website to add their numbers to help chip away at the goal.

"I know people in Mississauga are committed to this ... and I know that we're going to accomplish this," he said.