Almost 20,000 trees have been planted across Chatham-Kent this planting season.
Forests Ontario reported Chatham, Blenheim, and Bothwell were the biggest benefactors with nearly 5,000 trees planted in each of those towns.
Forests Ontario said a total of 19,360 trees were planted this year in Chatham-Kent and cited the following breakdown:
Chatham-5,470
Blenheim-5,030
Bothwell-4,930
Lake Erie shoreline-2,660
Wheatley-770
Wallaceburg-500
Forests Ontario CEO Jessica Kaknevicius told CK News Today knowing the trees will grow into healthy, thriving forests is what keeps the organization and planters going every year.
"We know that forests have such a huge impact on our daily lives. Whether it's because of the physical or mental health benefits, or whether it's because of the ecosystem services that they provide, or the employment that they provide. So, knowing we're contributing to restoring those ecosystems and knowing that we're helping those local communities, their well-being, and their economies," said Kaknevicius.
Kaknevicius said Chatham-Kent could use more trees because they help to clean the water, provide clean air, help biodiversity, and mitigate the affects of climate change such as floods.
"We know the Chatham-Kent area really could benefit from more tree planting. We do a lot of work reaching out to landowners, getting more landowners engaged in wanting to plant trees, working with our conservation authorities and our private sector planting partners to try to get more trees specifically within that area," she said.
Forests Ontario worked with the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority and the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority to plant the trees.
Kaknevicius said they reach out to local landowners every year to determine if they're interested in planting trees and the type of tree planted depends on the soil.
"Types of trees vary, it really depends on the site that we're looking at. We work with professionals to assess soil type, assess disturbances, and what really happens to that area to make sure we're picking trees for the right place and for the right reason to help them grow into healthy forests," Kaknevicius noted.
Forests Ontario reported up to 669,000 trees have been planted in the area over the past 20 years.
Click here for more information about the program and how to get involved.
