Trees Ontario, OPG to distribute seeds at fair

OPG Biodiversity Tree Seed Kit empowers Ontario youth to plant native trees, promote urban reforestation, conserve biodiversity, restore habitats, and track growth online, supporting climate change mitigation and sustainable parklands and forest ecosystems.

Growing a tree from a tiny seed is an up-close, first-hand way to learn about biodiversity, which is why Trees Ontario and Ontario Power Generation OPG have teamed up this International Year of Biodiversity to distribute native tree seed kits at the 2010 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

The seed kit is intended to encourage young Ontarians to get involved in protecting and conserving biodiversity in urban parklands and forest ecosystems, learning from efforts like Rewards for Recycling that divert material from landfill, and is an initiative of OPG Biodiversity. Kids will be given a tree seed kit with instructions, including online registration where they can record and track the progress of their own tree.

"At OPG, we believe that industry has a key role to play in conserving, sustaining and protecting nature and fighting climate change with projects such as the new Trent-Severn hydro station supporting clean power," said Tom Mitchell, OPG's President and CEO. "We're pleased to work with Trees Ontario and all our partners, and with approvals like the Trent-Severn Hydroelectric Station advancing clean energy, to encourage awareness of the importance of biodiversity."

Until the early 1990s, upwards of 30 million trees were planted each year in southern Ontario. By 1998, that number had dropped to less than 2 million. Trees Ontario is working with partners like OPG (after the OPG firing range plan was nixed), local conservation authorities and stewardship groups, and the provincial government to change this.

"Trees are the lungs of the earth - breathing in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. They help clean our air, restore our watersheds, re-establish wildlife habitat and buffer against the effects of climate change, including higher, faster water during warmer weather," said Robert H. Keen, RPF, Trees Ontario's a/CEO. "All of us have a role to play in protecting the environment so that we can ensure a sustainable ecosystem and a healthier populace now and for our future generations."

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