THUNDER BAY – An urban forest is more than planting a few trees in a park and calling it day.
It’s about building a better and healthier community.
On Saturday, members of the Earth Care Community Greening Working Group, along with several city officials and nearby residents, descended on the Albany Parkette, helping to transform the Munro Street green space into an urban forest, not only beautifying the area, but also providing practical, ecologically friendly solutions to a variety of environmental issues.
Kyle Jessiman, the working group’s chair, said it’s all about transforming the part into a healthy urban forest for the benefit of all.
“This park has a couple of trees, but it’s mostly grass. They’ve now lined the whole street with big caliper trees and we’re planting almost 50 little seedlings, about two years old, all along the back. It’s going to create a guard for the houses and a whole perimeter for the park, which is really great.”
A pair of pollinator gardens was also added to the space, Jessiman added.
“It’s really about the health of the urban forest. Adding these trees, it helps manage the soil. There’s going to be a lot of shade in this park for people to enjoy the biodiversity, the habitat for animals, the clean air. There are a number of benefits for trees,” Jessiman said.
“There are a number of studies that say ‘X’ number of trees in a neighbourhoood increases the health of that neighbourhood. And it’s urban beautification as well, so it’s really great to see this many going in.”
Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds was among the Arbour Day volunteers, joining one of his teenage sons to plant a few evergreen trees at the back of the park.
Foulds said he’s fully supportive of the plan.
“This kind of work is game-changing. Neighbourhood parks and parkettes like this are places where families and neighbours come together. I just simply love these things,” Foulds said.
“Today we’re seeing a transformation of this parkette. Not only does it make this parkette more beautiful, but there’s a transformation here in terms of climate adaptation and storm-water management.”
Families are also a lot more sun conscious these days, he added.
“There’s shade structures here as well … I really think all the volunteers who are out here today clearly demonstrate how important these things are and how important this work is.”
Residents interested in acquiring a new boulevard tree can visit thunderbay.ca/urbanforestery, or by phoning 625-2195.
