MAPLETON – The Trees for Mapleton committee has a goal of planting 10,527 trees throughout the Township of Mapleton in memory of Paul Day.
Day was instrumental in promoting and facilitating tree planting efforts locally until his passing in 2016.
The initiative, which started in 2017, has been named the W. Paul Day Forest with 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 the 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.
To date the Trees for Mapleton Committee and dozens of dedicated volunteers have planted 4,090 trees throughout Centennial Park and Memorial Park in Drayton under the W. Paul Day Forest Initiative.
Due to COVID-19 and public gathering restrictions the Trees for Mapleton committee was limited in hosting the typical community planting events in 2020 and the spring of 2021 but despite the pandemic Trees for Mapleton has found a way to move forward.
This spring the Committee worked with Reg and Liz Samis who planted 3,020 trees throughout four acres of marginal farm land. These four acres are located near the Conestoga River and have been subject to a number of flooding events causing the loss of top soil.
Reg and Liz Samis felt it was time to put that land back into trees and were able to plant 3020 native trees in partnership with Grand River Conservation Authority and Forests Ontario’s 50 Million Tree program.
A mixture of white spruce, white cedar, white pine and tamarack were planted with the goal of creating wildlife habitat, protecting the soil from further erosion and to improve the area for future generations including those who live downstream of the planting in Drayton.
The Samis’ who have been long time supporters of the Trees for Mapleton committee dedicated this planting to the W. Paul Day Forest project with the hopes that the benefits of these trees will be felt for years to come.
Community plantings
This dedication brings the number of trees planted up to 7,110 and the Trees for Mapleton committee one step closer to reaching the goal of planting 10,527 trees in the Township.
The committee is looking forward to future community planting events, which hopefully can resume in the fall of 2021.
For more information on Trees for Mapleton contact the chair Bruce Whale at 519-748-7928 or whalebruce@gmail.com.
Submitted by the Trees for Mapleton committee
