Ontario, Canada, spring 2022
In Spring 2022, PUR Projet and Forest Ontario, the partners in the field, have been finalizing the details for the 2022 planting wave in Ontario. Next to A Tree for You, they are responsible for selecting the planting sites, working closely with landholders to create the planting designs as well as select the appropriate species to be planted.
The 2022 planting wave aims to plant 3500 trees with seven different farmers.
Species Selection and Planting Design
The Ontario project has three different planting designs:
- windbreaks
- riparian buffers
- reforestation
All of these contribute to the overall project goals of creating wildlife corridors in Southern Ontario, capturing carbon, and restoring ecosystems.
Windbreaks consist of at least one row of trees that is planted on one or multiple sides of a crop field to protect agricultural production from strong winds or snow, as well as reduce soil erosion.
Riparian buffers consist of at least one row of grasses, shrubs and trees that are planted around moving and standing bodies of water. Riparian buffers can reduce the erosion of streambanks and protect waterways by filtering excess nutrients that runoff and leak from nearby agricultural production.
Lastly, a reforestation planting project usually incorporates planting trees throughout the field or block designated for planting with the objective of regenerating the landscape into a new forest and creating animal habitats.
The selection of tree species will vary depending on the planting design as well as the properties of the local landscape. For example, while some pine species can tolerate sandy and rocky soils with lower fertility, some spruce trees may be better conditioned for wetter soils.
Consequently, a more variable landscape will likely be planted with a higher diversity of tree species.
For another example, riparian buffers could incorporate several species that are well adapted for wetter and even intermittently flooded soils, have different types of roots for the purpose of reducing streambank erosion, and are well suited for the crops adjacent to the buffer.
For areas of reforestation, we have the intention of fostering the growth of a new and diverse forest but counter-intuitively this is accomplished by prioritizing a few “pioneer” species that grow quickly and help establish the conditions for subsequent species to naturally grow and continue to repopulate a previously disturbed landscape.
Farmer Motivations
Thanks to your donation, 7 farmers will benefit from the project.
Farmers might choose a particular planting design to incorporate trees into their agricultural land depending on their needs, for example to protect their crops from strong winds or snowstorms or retire a field that has been previously used for agricultural production.
“[These trees] will help connect the woodlots on our property” – Participant Farmer
Other motivations might be to disrupt crop pest and disease cycles, mitigate climate change, protect local waterways and aquatic ecosystems and resources, diversify their livelihoods, increase the ecological value of their property, or to increase biodiversity.
“It is so encouraging [that] the new trees will be wonderful habitat in the future” – Participant Farmer
Next Steps
As the planting season approaches, the local partner is preparing to go to the field to monitor the survival and vigor of the trees planted during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In 2021 some farmers faced several challenges related to pests, drought and flooding in their tree blocks, therefore we aim to prioritize checking the status of the most affected sites.
Overall, local partners are looking forward towards the start of another planting season, working alongside dedicated farmers. The first planting will start in late spring and will take place until September 2022.
