May 20, 2022

From left: Township of South Glengarry's Michelle O'Shaughnessy, resident Gary Poupart, Councillor Stephanie Jaworksi, and RRCA's Lisa Van De Ligt at the Tree Giveaway at Glen Walter Park in South Glengarry.

The Raisin Region Conservation Authority (RRCA) recently wrapped up its 23rd Annual Tree Giveaway, handing out a total of 3000 free trees at events in all five municipalities in its watershed jurisdiction in Cornwall and SDG. Nearly 49,000 free trees have been distributed to the community since the first RRCA Tree Giveaway in the year 2000.

“Residents were all smiles as they came to pick up their free white spruce and white cedar seedlings,” says RRCA’s Communications and Stewardship Team Lead, Lisa Van De Ligt. “We always look forward to partnering with our municipalities for this opportunity to meet community members and help them spruce up their properties with native tree seedlings.”

This year’s Tree Giveaway in Cornwall took place during Cornwall’s Eco Day on April 23 at Lamoureux Park, while South Glengarry’s Giveaway took place on May 7 at Glen Walter Park. Once again, the RRCA partnered with its neighbouring Conservation Authority, South Nation Conservation (SNC) to hold Tree Giveaways in mid-May in their shared municipalities of North Glengarry, South Stormont, and North Stormont. The RRCA also partnered with SNC to distribute over 1200 white spruce seedlings to health care workers at local hospitals during National Nurses Week in early May. 

“Our annual giveaways can help introduce residents to the RRCA’s various tree planting programs,” says Van De Ligt. “For projects over 500 trees, we provide full-service planting, which may include significant subsidies through our partnership with Forests Ontario. For smaller projects, we offer a low-cost Over-the-Counter Tree Seedling program.”

The RRCA is currently booking free site consultations for its full-service tree planting. While the Over-the-Counter Seedling program recently finished for this year, residents are encouraged to check the RRCA’s social media this fall to secure their trees for next spring.

Through its combined forestry programs, the RRCA is adding 57,000 trees to the local landscape in 2022, adding to the over one million trees planted in its jurisdiction since 1994.

The RRCA would like to thank Ontario Power Generation, Enbridge, and municipalities for supporting its 23rd annual Tree Giveaway.

For more information on the RRCA’s forestry programs, please go to rrca.on.ca or contact (613) 938-3611 or info@rrca.on.ca.