NVCA’s forestry program

Staff and students recently planted hundreds of trees and shrubs near Willow Creek. | Photo by Carolyn Davies/Nature Conservancy of Canada

NEWS RELEASE
NOTTAWASAGA VALLEY CONSERVATION AUTHORITY
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Between April 24 and May 17, local conservation authority says 78,000 trees were planted in seven municipalities

Rick Grillmayer, manager of forestry, conducted a presentation regarding NVCA’s forestry program. He outlined that NVCA is the only agency left in the watershed to offer tree-planting services, and that we have been planting trees each year since 1964.

NVCA’s 2023 tree-planting season began on April 24 and was completed on May 17. All of NVCA’s trees come from Somerville Seedlings in Everett, Ont. A total of 78,000 trees were planted on 19 properties in seven municipalities.

NVCA plants trees two ways: by machine and by hand. Machine planting is very cost effective and efficient. If the planting site is too steep, has too many stones, is too wet, or is too small, hand planters are sent in.

Forestry always works one year in advance. Site visits need to be completed the year before planting, before the winter.

Successful tree planting requires that the site is prepared and that the trees are tended to after planting. NVCA does this for landowners. NVCA’s forestry program does survival surveys in the first, second, and fifth years after planting.

The tree species that NVCA plants are a result of decades of practice. The trees that NVCA planted this spring came from seeds that were collected up to five years ago to be grown and ready.