MAPLETON – The Trees for Mapleton Committee has a goal of planting 10,527 trees throughout the Township of Mapleton in memory of Paul Day, who was instrumental in promoting and facilitating tree planting efforts locally until his passing in 2016.
This initiative, which started in 2017 and has been named the W. Paul Day Forest, and has a goal of planting a tree for every person in the Township of Mapleton based off of the 2016 population census. The Trees for Mapleton committee began this project to commemorate the countless hours Paul Day spent promoting the planting of windbreaks, shelterbelts and trees and shrubs along watercourses to protect soil from erosion, to buffer riparian areas from pollutants and to increase tree cover in the township to help combat the effects of climate change.
Trees for Mapleton hosted two planting events in the township in October and in the planting of these trees, we experienced and saw community developing as these young people, leaders of tomorrow, help make a difference in our environment.
The first planting event was in partnership with the Alma Girl Guides and Pathfinders and the Drayton Sparks, Brownies and Girl Guides. The leaders, Marlene Skerritt from the Alma club and Candace Burnett from the Drayton club, brought with them their club members and some additional family volunteers to plant 150 native trees on township-owned property on Elm Street in Drayton.
The local Girl Guides’ motto is “to serve their community” and through this tree planting effort they have provided a valuable ecological service for the community.
The second planting was completed by a group of hard-working high school students in the LEAF (Local Environment Agriculture Food) course under the leadership of teacher Paul Frayne, from Palmerston’s Norwell high school. The LEAF students planted 250 trees on land owned by FS Partners that abuts the Riverside Park soccer fields in Drayton.
LEAF is a program that aims to connect students to the many opportunities that exist in agriculture in their own community. They visit a different local farm each week to learn about as many different aspects of agriculture and food as possible. This year they have visited dairy farms, beef farms, market gardens, pig farms, and seed companies. They explore the huge diversity in agriculture that is located in Mapleton, Minto and North Wellington and see the many careers that agriculture offers students.
Another goal of the program is to make the connection between agriculture and a healthy environment. The students take a close look at what farmers are doing to promote soil health such as planting cover crops, wind breaks and crop rotations. To make the full connection from farm to fork, LEAF students use local food to cook in the Norwell kitchen and learn about nutrition and teamwork.
The program is open to students of all levels and experience. The goal is that by the end of LEAF, all students value where their food comes from, are willing to support local farmers, and understand how sustainable ag and food systems can benefit the environment.
A huge thanks to our youth for volunteering and planting these trees in 2021.
These two planting plans were created up by Meghan Clay of Grand River Conservation Authority, trees were supplied by Wellington County Green Legacy nurseries and the mulch and site preparation was completed by Jim Grose from the Township of Mapleton. We also want to highlight Marilyn McQueen and FS Partners for their participation.
These fall tree planting events mark a total of 7,522 trees being planted in the township as part of the Paul Day Legacy Forest.
Trees for Mapleton is looking forward to planting more trees in the spring and welcomes members of the community to get involved and make Mapleton a greener place to live.
– Submitted by Liz Samis on behalf of the Trees for Mapleton Committee