It’s been only a short time since Wellington County embarked on an anniversary project to plant 150,000 trees – and now the total has reached one million.
Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj, many county councillors, members of the Green Legacy project and a slew of kids firmly tucked tree number one million into the ground on Sunday afternoon during the Harvest Home Festival at the County Museum and Archives.
Ross-Zuj told nearly 200 people she is particularly pleased so many children have been involved in the anniversary celebration that evolved into the Green Legacy project. The county now has the largest municipal tree planting program in North America.
County councillor Walter Trachsel, chairman of the planning committee that oversees the program, said, “We couldn’t do it without our partners.”
Those included the Grand River Conservation Authority. Allan Dale, its Chief Administrative Officer, said of the planting, “This is really special. It started out as a simple idea to make Wellington County a little greener.”
He noted, too, that millionaires always say the first million is the toughest, and “You’ve got the first million behind you.”
Larry Halyck, of the Wellington County Stewardship Council, said it recently hosted a tour of southwestern Ontario and he constantly heard from participants “You’re so lucky to be in Wellington County” because of the Green Legacy program.
Libby Little told the audience she is just “somebody’s mom” but she got involved in the program and loves tree planting with children. “It’s a real privilege to work with kids,” she said.
Green Legacy tree nursery manager Rob Johnson had his own special way of celebrating the better air quality provided in Wellington by so many trees. He ran 100km across the county, starting in Mount Forest and running 60km to the museum property for the planting and celebration, and then headed out for the final 40km to the tree nursery in Puslinch Township.
He said this year 3,000 school children from kindergarten to grade 3 planted 9,000 seedlings, another 200 children in grades 4 to 6 worked in the nursery with those seedlings and 1,200 to 1,500 older elementary school students planted 15,000 trees on private property as part of the program.
He said students from Germany and Japan “flock” to the nursery to see it in operation, and 3,500 people have given 15,000 volunteer hours to Green Legacy. He added that on his run he saw “There is a lot of space out there” to plant many more trees.
He challenged the community, saying if everyone in the county planted ten trees a year over the course of a single hour, the county could plant one million trees a year.
“Every tree we plant is a gift to the next generation,” he said, noting the goal is 30% tree coverage in the county by 2030.
