Fall is upon us, and it is a great time for property owners to reach out to Cataraqui Conservation’s Forestry team, to be included in the spring 2025 tree planting season. Forestry Coordinator Rick Knapton and Forestry Technician Haven Jerreat-Poole have been busy this fall visiting sites to assess the landscape, mark out the parcels to be planted and begin preliminary site preparations.
Come the spring, Cataraqui Conservation’s contracted tree planters head out to dozens of properties throughout the Cataraqui Region to traditionally plant 200,000 trees or more, as part of its annual tree planting initiative. A phone call or email this fall could mean your property is one of those to receive a healthy helping of new tree seedlings, to be planted and grow into a future forest!
Incentives are in place to make the process not only more efficient, but also inexpensive.
Through their afforestation program, Cataraqui Conservation offers tree planting assistance to landowners on a cost-sharing basis thanks to significant funding from both Forests Canada and Tree Canada. The program includes comprehensive project planning, including an assessment of the land and soil to determine the best species to plant, delivery of the trees, tree planting, initial vegetation control, and follow-up site monitoring.
“Now is the time to sign up for the program. Often when we meet with a landowner, we ask them to mow the tall grasses in the area to be planted the fall prior to planting. This is important for a number of reasons. First, if it’s mowed in the fall, this vegetation has more time to break down over winter. Secondly, in the spring when we plant, it’s frequently too wet to mow and can’t be done – which can prevent planting. We also include, as part of our program, a strip spray application, to control the grass competition for the first growing season. By doing all this in the fall, as well as having a look at the property and the soil, everything is ready to go when the planting contractor shows up in the spring,” said Knapton, who has logged more than 30 years with Cataraqui Conservation’s forestry program.
“We want to look at what vegetation is there now, to see what grows well and what doesn’t. We also sample the soil to better inform tree species selection, and ultimately choose those species that are best suited to each property, or portion of a property,” added Jerreat-Poole.
To be eligible to participate in the tree planting program offered by Cataraqui Conservation, the area to be planted must be at least one hectare (2.5 acres) in size. Knapton explained that the cost per tree for the landowner is reduced as the planting area increases. So, for the bare minimum of one hectare, the cost would be 20 cents per tree. For anything larger than eight hectares, the cost drops to five cents per tree. It must be noted that the actual cost for the planting is around $2.75 per tree, so the savings for the landowner are tremendous.
Trees are planted in rows, with the aid of a tractor and machine planter. Trees are spaced six feet apart within rows, and eight feet between rows. This means that 2000 trees are planted per hectare of land (or 800 trees per acre).
Cataraqui Conservation plants predominantly coniferous tree species, including white pine, white spruce, Norway spruce, white cedar, tamarack and occasionally red pine. When planted as seedlings, in high quantities, deciduous trees have a far lower success rate, as they require extensive care, intervention and monetary resources in order to thrive. However, Cataraqui Conservation does encourage landowners to diversify their planting areas over time, by gradually adding small numbers of deciduous trees within the original site.
So why is it important to plant trees?
“I can think of a whole host of reasons why someone would want to plant trees on their land. When planted on marginal, fallow land, trees help to improve the health of the soil and combat erosion, while also creating important wildlife habitat. Planting trees is also an amazing way to help mitigate climate change, which is why these programs and subsidies exist – because trees are incredible carbon sinks,” explained Jerreat-Poole.
Knapton adds that landowners are often interested in adding windbreaks and shelterbelts to their planting project. These plantings can help to increase crop yields on agricultural land, by reducing wind damage and soil erosion. Many landowners also choose to plant windbreaks or shelterbelts for privacy, noise reduction, and for aesthetic purposes.
For more information about Cataraqui Conservation’s tree planting program visit https://cataraquiconservation.ca/pages/treeplanting or email the Forestry team directly at rknapton@crca.ca and hjerreat-poole@crca.ca.