Tree Planting with Landowners during a Pandemic (UTRCA Weekly, April 8, 2021)

April 8, 2021 – Every year, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) plants thousands of trees and shrubs through a variety of programs, to help us reach our target of establishing 1000 hectares of natural vegetative cover in the upper Thames River watershed by 2032. Our Private Lands Tree Planting program is for landowners who reside in the upper Thames River watershed and own a minimum of 1 hectare (2.5 acres). Eligible projects can include planting windbreaks, retiring highly erodible land, and planting treed buffer strips along watercourses. The private lands program includes three components:

• UTRCA machine planting crew for seedlings,
• UTRCA hand planting crew for large stock trees,
• “Over the Counter” projects where landowners purchase large stock conifers/hardwoods and seedlings from us and plant on their own.

Not surprisingly, the pandemic had a big impact on our tree planting efforts last year, and it continues to affect our plans for 2021. We talked to John Enright, UTRCA Forester, about how the private lands program has adapted.

1) How did the pandemic impact 2020 tree planting plans?

“In late March 2020, with the planting season fast approaching, there were so many unanswered questions. Could we get trees, when would we get them, could we hire staff, and how were we going to deliver the program safety in light of COVID?

Last year’s spring weather was ideal for tree planting, if only we didn’t have a global pandemic to deal with! In the end, we were able to deliver most of our tree planting program, with the help of spouses, family members, and a small crew of three.

We had to postpone our machine planting program, due to the uncertainty of tree supply and crew members working in close proximity to one another. We were able to safely deliver our large stock planting program using staff and three students. The Over the Counter program was very popular -landowners were just so happy to get their trees and to be able to out and do some planting.”

Recent spring tree planting:

• 2020 Spring Tree Planting with family members pitching in
• 2019 Tree Planting along Whirl Creek
• 2019 Machine Tree Planting
• 2019 Trees Arriving at the UTRCA 

2) What was the demand for trees like in 2020?

“We saw the demand for trees start to increase in April 2020 with landowners contacting us at the last minute to see if we had any surplus trees available for planting. That demand has continued to this day. I believe it is definitely COVID related. More people at home, with more time on their hands, looking to improve their properties by planting trees.”

3) What is the demand for trees like in 2021?

“UTRCA forestry staff has seen tremendous interest in our 2021 tree planting programs. Between the many recent site calls carried out by staff, ongoing landowner interest, and the plantings carried over from 2020 due to the pandemic, we may have reached our limit of available nursery stock! This year we sold out of trees for the first time. Not only were we sold out but our supplying nurseries were sold out as well.  This demand for trees is province wide.

To encourage tree planting, our staff has worked hard to secure opportunities for watershed landowners to offset some of the cost associated with most tree planting projects. As a result, many private land and community projects receive cost-sharing through funding from our local Clean Water Program, Forests Ontario grants, Ontario Power Generation, or West Perth Healthy Forests. The projects planned for this spring include watercourse buffers, windbreaks, and naturalizing highly erodible and sensitive lands.”

4) How are tree plantings for 2021 moving ahead?

“As a result of demand, this will be a very busy spring tree planting season for us. The plan is to move ahead with our full program. With the COVID protocols that we developed last year, our comfort level with planting safely is so much greater. Tree planting and physical distancing are complementary activities, benefiting the environment as well as our physical and mental health.

In time, the trees that are planted this spring will enhance the environment and everyone’s quality of life by increasing wildlife habitat, protecting streams, controlling soil erosion, and improving water quality. We’re looking forward to perfect spring planting conditions!”

Tree planting on private lands is supported by our local Clean Water Program, Forests Ontario, and Ontario Power Generation.