SCRCA & Enbridge team up in St. Clair Township

To celebrate the completion of the 8-year Lambton County Naturalization Project, 17 Enbridge staff joined SCRCA forestry specialists for a tree planting event on one of the properties in Wilkesport (SCRCA)

Since 2011, the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority (SCRCA) has been working with Enbridge to complete a series of stewardship projects on 34 hectares of their land holdings in St. Clair Township.

The multiphase Lambton County Naturalization Project has seen the creation of 1 hectare of wetlands adjacent to Bear Creek, the establishment of 2 hectares of tallgrass prairie habitat over underground pipelines, and the reforestation of 31 hectares with the planting of more than 62,000 trees.

There is a need for tree cover in Lambton County as current forest cover is half the recommended level for a healthy environment.

“Not only will these new trees provide much needed forest cover, we designed sections of the tree plantations so we can collect long-term climate change data,” explained Steve Shaw, Manager of Conservation Services at the SCRCA, “We selected a range of Carolinian tree species – including some that are not commonly used in our tree planting program – so we can study their adaptability in a changing climate.”

Many of the trees planted over the course of the project were grown from local tree seed sourced through the Authority’s tree seed collection program. Trees are genetically adapted to their regional growing zones making the seed collected each year by the Authority important for the future of local tree planting efforts.

Enbridge has also provided financial support to assist the Authority with developing a sustainable tree seed collection program in Lambton County.

“The opportunity to work with the SCRCA to develop a seed collection program was something Enbridge was very pleased to support,” said Ken Hall, Senior Strategist Community Engagement. “These types of efforts are critical to sustaining our local environment and the diversity of our local forests and wildlife habitat.”

To mark the completion of the 8-year naturalization project, 17 Enbridge staff joined SCRCA forestry specialists to hand plant 900 tree seedlings on one of the properties near Wilkesport.

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