A national effort to plant trees ahead of this June's G7 summit in Quebec will include the Bruce Peninsula.
Bruce County council has agreed to participate in a program headed up by Global Affairs Canada, which is seeking to plant 100,000 trees throughout Canada's UNESCO biospheres, as a gesture to offset the carbon footprint of the G7 summit.
County Forestry Technician Kevin Predon says the program will contribute the cost of 1,000 trees and labour, which will be planted on the county-owned Lindsay Tract, near Miller Lake.
He says the timing is good, as a tree planting effort was already planned for the area this year, with some help from students from nearby Lion's Head.
"I had already planned on planting some trees up there, and I'm going to plant more than 1,000 trees, but getting some help from some local students and getting these trees paid for certainly helps me out," says Predon.
He says they will plant white pine trees, adding the Bruce Peninsula was a white pine forest prior to settlement, so the county would like to return it to its natural state. Predon says the planting will help regenerate the forest, which was harvested for lumber three years ago.
"I've ordered 1,500 [trees] for that area right now, so we'll see how that works out, and we'll move forward for planning for next year, I'd like to try more [planting]," says Predon. "This area was harvested in 2015, so I'm just trying to augment the natural regeneration with some planting."
Predon says the G7 program requires the trees to be planted by May 15, but says they would like to plant them by May 6 as a symbolic gesture, as that date will mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of the first county-owned forest tract.
