This week (Sept. 24-30) is National Forest Week across the country and on Wednesday, Sept. 27, communities all over Canada will be planting trees in honour of National Tree Day.
Over the past twenty years, Tree Canada has engaged communities, governments, corporations and individuals in the pursuit of a greener and healthier living environment, and provides Canadians with education, technical expertise, and resources to plant and care for urban and rural trees.
In the midst of its most impactful year to date, in 2017, Tree Canada announced a more than $1 million investment to restore the forests destroyed by the devastating Fort McMurray wildfires last year.
"While Canadians have always tied much of our national identity to nature, the sad truth is that forest cover in our cities has been declining over the past 20 years," said a news release from Tree Canada.
"This is especially concerning when you consider 80+ per cent of our country's population now lives in urban areas."
Forests across Canada face a number of challenges including climate change (the floods in Windsor and Ottawa/Gatineau, and the wildfires in British Columbia this summer and Fort McMurray last year), invasive insects such as the Emerald Ash Borer in Ontario/Quebec and the Alberta Mountain Pine Beetle, and of course, increasing population density.
As the largest urban forest organization in the country, Tree Canada also celebrated the 150th anniversary of Confederation with 150 tree-planting initiatives in communities in every province and territory across the country.
Here in Greater Sudbury, Walden Home Hardware will celebrate National Tree Day by planting 16 mature trees at Lively District Secondary School.
“The plant site at Lively District Secondary School was chosen for many milestones that mean a great deal to this community. Not only is it Canada’s 150th year, but it also is the 60th anniversary of Lively High, which the community rallied to save from closing,” said Corey and Lonnie Doherty, owners, Walden Home Hardware.
“This outpouring of community commitment is a reflection of one of the school’s longest standing principals, the late Mr. Charles Tuttle and we are proud to honour his memory.”
This is the first year that Walden Home Hardware has participated in Home Hardware’s annual tree plants with Tree Canada.
“We are proud that Home Hardware is committed to improving the environment, now and for generations to come,” said Michael Rosen, President of Tree Canada. “To see such a widespread effort on the part of Home Dealers in communities across Canada is extremely inspiring and sets a great example for Canadians.”
The tree planting will take place at Lively District Secondary School (265 Fifth Ave.) at 12:30 p.m. There will be a special ceremony with refreshments for participants.
On National Tree Day, Tree Canada will mark its 25th anniversary with a ceremonial tree planting near the Bytown Museum at 1 Canal Lane, just below Parliament Hill.
Tree Canada is a non-profit charity dedicated to improving the lives of Canadians by planting and nurturing trees. Since 1992, they have planted more than 80 million trees, greened more than 600 school yards, helped restore places hit by natural disasters and brought together urban forestry experts greening cities all across Canada.
Get involved or learn more at treecanada.ca.
