The Highway of Heroes project is testing an expansion project. The original program was a tribute to the 117,000 Canadians, who died for freedom. They are planting 117,000 trees along the highway from Trenton to Toronto. This is using larger stock trees for an immediate visual impact.
The new pilot project is looking at landowners with ties to the military between Ganaraska and Cobourg within the 15 km of the highway. The details are still being finalized; it looks like eligible landowners will receive 80 to 90 per cent of the costs to plant 2.5 acres of open land. (They will consider parcels as small as one acre.) The work is being done in cooperation with Forests Ontario.
The programs are using Vineland’s protocol when possible. David Turnbull, operations manager, said, “We can’t always follow the exact program but we are doing the best we can with the circumstances. At one site, they had issues with snails due to the cool, wet conditions. The trees were killed. This section is to be replanted with larger trees and the base surrounded with gravel and diatomaceous earth. “We couldn’t find a lot of information on dealing with snails in Ontario or Canada. We’ve had to use California information and we don’t know if they are the same type of snail.”
Another concern the program is encountering is dog strangling vine. “It is so prolific east of Toronto. It engulfs entire trees. We need more lead time to do site preparation but sometimes, we only have a couple months. We’ve really only been planting intensively for two years. The 117,000 trees will be dominant deciduous and a mix of conifers.”
Turnbull continued, “We will really just be getting into the planting of the service sections this spring. We are still searching for landowners. There are thousands of acres in this region empty. The landowners we have are happy with the program and looking for natural reforestation. These plantings are dominant conifer with a few deciduous. If the landowner wants a different mix, we will do our best to accommodate but we do encourage a mix.”
— Pat Kerr