UPDATE TO THIS ARTICLE:
Despite the weather turning out to be freezing cold with high winds on our Rotary Forest Day, about 400 volunteers still showed up and planted a whole bunch of trees!
12th annual tree planting at Guelph's Rotary Forest on Saturday, April 27, 2019
This year, a total of 6,800 trees will be planted by volunteers in the Rotary Forest at Guelph Lake Conservation Area
April 22, 2019 by: GuelphToday Staff
Several Girl Guides and Sparks groups came out to plant during the 2018 tree-planting event at Rotary Forest at Guelph Lake Conservation Area. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday file photo
Rain or shine, a total of 6,800 new trees will be planted this spring as part of the Rotary Club of Guelph’s legacy project that seeks to plant a total of 60,000 trees by 2020.
The Rotary Club of Guelph is partnering with the Grand River Conservation Authority and Grand River Conservation Foundation for its Rotary Forest tree-planting event on April 27.
“We are calling on environmentally-minded citizens to help transform a 40-hectare area, across from the Guelph Lake Nature Centre, into a wonderful new resource for our community, with trees that will clean our air and link nearby forest habitat to create a corridor for wildlife,” said the Rotary Club of Guelph in a press release.
Now in its 12th year, the Rotary Forest tree-planting began as a legacy project to celebrate the Rotary Club of Guelph’s one-hundredth anniversary, which will occur in 2020.
This year, participants will create a ‘pioneer species’ grove, which will include the planting of species that are traditionally first to populate abandoned fields or previously-forested areas destroyed by fire. The 28 species being planted this year will include white birch, trembling and largetooth aspen, eastern cottonwood and balsam poplar.
A ceremonial white birch will be planted during the event. Rotary Club of Guelph notes the white birch is an iconic northern tree, used by Indigenous groups in the building of birch bark canoes, as well as a wide variety of other uses.
The Rotary Forest is in the process of transforming a 40-hectare area across from the soon-to-be-built Guelph Lake Nature Centre into a new resource for the community. When it is completed in 2020, a total of 60,000 trees will have been planted.
Participants are encouraged to wear boots and learn how to plant trees between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. while having fun with friends, family and neighbours.
Parking is available at Lakeside Church on Conservation Drive, with a shuttle bus to drive participants to and from the planting site.
A shuttle bus will also leave Guelph Central Station every hour on the hour from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. from platform 15. The downtown shuttle will make one stop at the corner of Woodlawn Road West and Victoria Road at 15 minutes past the hour.
Refreshments and food will be available to purchase. Participants are asked to bring their own containers.
Wild Ontario will be on site with demonstrations of birds of prey and musical entertainment will be provided by Terry Van Dreumel.
