On April 22, 2017, more than 70 members of the Sathya Sai Centre of Toronto-York participated in a tree planting event organized by the City of Toronto’s Parks, Forestry and Recreation department in honour of Earth Day. The members joined nearly 350 volunteers from the city, and 10 other organizations from across the city. Together, volunteers planted 800 native trees and shrubs across a designated field in Earl Bales Park in North York. The event helped Toronto Forestry achieve their goal of reaching a 40% green canopy cover in the city.

After a tutorial demonstration by City staff on the correct depth and method to plant the different trees and shrubs, volunteers worked together in teams and spread out through the site. Biodegradable mats were places around each tree and then covered in mulch to assist in their growth and development.

Toronto, the largest city in Canada has an urban forest with an estimated 10.2 million trees covering approximately 18,000 hectares. Forty percent of this valuable resource is situated on public property, including an estimated 3.5 million trees within our parkland system and approximately 600,000 trees on our streets.

Trees work hard. They absorb water, clean the air, provide shade, reduce erosion, flooding and wind tunnels, decrease heating and cooling costs and increase property values. There is a growing body of international research that supports the importance of maintaining healthy, sustainable urban forests.

Toronto has adopted the goal of increasing tree canopy coverage from 26.6 – 28% to 40% across the city. One of the primary ways of achieving this goal is through planting of new trees, with a focus on planting large canopy species.

Trees Across Toronto and Green Toronto are initiatives under the city’s native tree and shrub planting program that responds directly to the tree canopy goal and is a major step forward in reclaiming some of our underdeveloped and un-treed lands. With the success of our larger planting sites, the focus of Trees Across Toronto has shifted to smaller sites in our parks and ravines to further expand the urban forest and help maintain our existing trees.

Source: City of Toronto, Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department