Trees are Watershed Heroes
Planting trees is an effective way to help improve the health of our watershed. Trees help fight climate change by storing carbon dioxide and providing natural cooling on hot summer days. In fact, a mature tree can absorb over 48 pounds of carbon dioxide in one year. Trees also create wildlife habitat and help protect against floods and beautify our communities. These are important jobs!
Every tree planted as part of our stewardship programs helps to restore nature and protect the Credit River Watershed for future generations.
Volunteers Help to Plant Seeds with Care
There’s a lot more to planting trees than just putting them in the ground. Newly planted trees need a lot of care to make sure they thrive. Because of the help of our volunteers, we have successfully completed many tree planting projects in the watershed.
Once planted, we continue to evaluate the health of the newly planted trees and make needed changes to improve their survival. Through site assessments, we collect data about maintenance needs, survival rates and opportunities for additional planting. We then use the data we collect to improve our future projects.
Monitoring planting sites is crucial in determining the success of these tree planting projects intended to restore specific areas in the watershed. Our dedicated staff assesses sites, provides the trees and shrubs with water and trims around our trees. We undertake this work for two or three years after a tree is planted. This supports our 75 per cent survival rate goal at every site.
It Takes a Village to Build a Healthy Environment
Planting trees helps support a healthy environment. We couldn’t complete this work without our volunteers, who give their time and energy to create positive environmental change.
In 2024, we connected with over 4,000 volunteers through our community, youth and corporate programs. Our volunteers contributed by:
- Offering their time, totalling approximately 13,000 hours.
- Planting approximately 8,500 native trees and shrubs.
- Helping naturalize almost 62,000 square metres of land throughout the watershed. That’s nearly 1.5 times the size of the Rogers Centre!
- Removing 23,500 square meters of invasive species, allowing native plants to reappear in the area.
- Cleaning up over 1,200 pounds of litter at our parks and in the community.
Take Action in Your Community
Still deciding on your 2025 resolutions? Start the new year with conservation goals! Your help can help us achieve similar milestones to that of 2024. We have various volunteer opportunities to help you get involved and support a healthy environment:
- Visit our events calendar for the latest volunteer events
- Learn more about our youth volunteer opportunities
- Get involved with our long-term volunteer roles
Want to visit and enjoy these natural areas you help create? Find a winter activity to do this season at our parks!
By Jamie Williams, Specialist, Marketing and Communications