In her childhood years Ann Buehler’s family farmed in Maryborough Township above Conestogo Lake.
With her father Andrew Stanners becoming ill every winter, doctor’s advised him to give up farming. The family moved to a house in Hollen, which Buehler disliked.
Six weeks later her father was offered a job as superintendent at the Conestogo Dam with the Grand River Conservation Commission (GRCC), which provided housing for the family at the dam.
“The house at the dam made me happy. I remember tree planters boarding with us. As my brothers grew of an age to work they joined my grandfather and uncles planting trees for the GRCC,” Buehler said.
“In the 1960s, Eileen Dietrich and I were the first females hired by what is now known as the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA). We worked the gatehouse, cut grass and pruned Christmas trees near Moorefield.”
Buehler has been planting trees on her Mapleton Township property for over 30 years. The first piece of land reforested was planted as a cooperative effort between the GRCC and the Schieck family.
In an interview with The Community News, Floyd Schieck said, “My family owned that property in the 1950s. The GRCC came with a tractor and an attachment that was low to the ground. Two of us sat on the attachment, one of us split the trees from the bundle and the other planted the trees.”
A second plot was reforested by Buehler’s family years later.
“It’s important to me to keep planting trees”, Buehler said. “I was raised that way and will continue doing it. I love seeing the wildlife, walking the trails and the privacy a forest provides.”
In May of 2015, Buehler and three of her neighbours on Wellington Road 11 joined together and had 2,800 seedlings of hardwoods and coniferous trees planted on their properties located across the Conestogo River.
The 7.5-acre project was planted by the GRCA. A combination of white spruce, hybrid poplar, European larch and mixed hardwoods were planted because of their fast growth and ability to shade, along with the landowners’ desire for a variety of trees.
GRCA forestry specialist Mark Funk said, “It’s a cost-share program provided through Trees for Mapleton and the Wellington Rural Water Quality Program. Up to 80 per cent of the cost of planting trees can be covered by different programs, leaving the landowner with 20% of the bill. It’s a very reasonable amount.”
Land is reforested by companies that are contracted by the GRCA. The organization previously used GRCA employees, each year taking office staff and any available employees out into the field to help with planting. Ten years ago, contracting out became a more viable option. This project was completely planted by hand due to its inaccessibility by motorized vehicles. Three men planted the acreage in half a day with shovels. Land owners also have the option to plant trees themselves.
Reforestation is done to create a habitat for wildlife, enlarge the natural corridor of trees and meadows along a river, control soil erosion, protect the river, improve water quality and promote walking trails.
The work is done in April and May, with the 2015 season seeing 300,000 trees planted in the watershed. Two thirds of the trees were planted on private land and one third on GRCA-owned lands.
Funk does a quality assessment of each planting and checks each site, as time allows. Every year, Funk works with up to 60 landowners. Tree thinning of established plots is commonly completed every 40 to 50 years.
The GRCA is striving to expand the large tracts of forests in the watershed. At present, large tracts are limited to dam areas like Conestogo Lake.
