Helping the environment with tree sale, tree planting, and Clean Sweep

The Kincardine area was helping the environment Saturday with a tree sale and tree-planting, and last Saturday with the Clean Sweep clean-up at the Armow Landfill Site.

It was busy at the Kincardine public works yard Saturday morning, as people came to pick up their tall trees.

The Municipality of Kincardine, Penetangore Watershed Group, SauGreen, the Welcome Home Haiti group, and Bruce Power partnered on this event, with 100 tall evergreen and deciduous pre-ordered trees from Everest Trees picked up by landowners.

“Our staff is volunteering today to build on our previous years’ partnerships with Bruce Power, Everest Trees, the Penetangore Watershed Group and SauGreen,” said Don Huston, operations manager. “This tree sale could grow every year and help improve our tree canopy with big trees.”
 
“Bruce Power has been supporting the great work of local grassroots organizations like SauGreen and the Penetangore Watershed Group for many years,” said Francis Chua, Bruce Power department manager of environment and sustainability. “We are glad to see so many mature trees going where they will store carbon and clean the environment in neighbourhoods across the Municipality of Kincardine.”
 
A local youth group will be digging holes for participating residents and helping to raise money for their organization along with teaching children about planting and being good environmental stewards.

“Having Philip Craig and the Welcome Home Haiti group plant the trees gives our youth a chance to raise some funds for their Haiti trip next week and do some good work for our community too,” said Chrystel Murphy of the Penetangore Watershed Group. “We are grateful to Bruce Power for $10,000 to fund today’s tree sale, as well as shade trees for parks and seedlings for a student planting.”
 
The Tall Tree Initiative makes it easy for municipalities to take a tried-and-true program and use sponsorship and partnerships to get big trees out across communities.

“The Tall Tree Initiative brings together our partners using the proven tree sale model from Saugeen Shores,” said Tracy Lambert, president of SauGreen. “We’re excited to see another municipality using our templates, and making it affordable to put big trees back in resident’s yards.”

SauGreen welcomes interest from other communities that would like to organize their own tree sale; to learn more, check out the website at www.talltreeinitiative.ca/.

Meanwhile, in Huron-Kinloss, about 40 members of the Ripley 4-H Conservation Club joined forces with members of the the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network (PRWIN) to plant 1,000 saplings along the river, just off Sideroad 10, southeast of Ripley, Saturday morning. The saplings were spruce, pine and cedar.

Adrienne Mason, project co-ordinator for PRWIN is moving on to other endeavours, effective June 30. She has worked with PRWIN for seven years.

And finally, last Saturday (April 23), members of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Kincardine and District, Chalmers Congregational Church, and the Kinetic Knights FRC Team 781, helped clear away garbage that had blown into the woods and along the ditches at the Armow Landfill Site, during Clean Sweep.