Guest Blogger's posts

This past spring, I had the opportunity to work as the Naturalization Assistant at LEAF and support their community planting events. At these events, we worked with LEAF volunteers and community participants to plant 1,250 native trees and shrubs in Richmond Hill and King. I’m excited to share my experiences of seeing how different people came together as a community to make a lasting impact on the environment.

There are countless benefits to enhancing biodiversity. LEAF’s naturalization planting events assist in recreating diverse, sustainable and resilient urban forests. Through increasing plant diversity, LEAF protects public lands and urban forests for future generations, while helping connect people to their local environments and to each other. These events are crucial to creating and sustaining healthy environments.

Newly planted trees and shrubs are vulnerable to many threats including invasive species and extreme weather conditions which impact the development of young plants. That’s why it’s so important for LEAF to return to our planting sites and provide much-needed care to our young trees and shrubs.

LEAF held a planting event in Markham this June, increasing native tree and shrub diversity in a beautiful woodlot. Long-time LEAF volunteer, Peter Cox, has dedicated years of stewardship to this woodland area in the company of other Markham residents. LEAF welcomed the opportunity to boost local efforts with an understory planting event! Our Naturalization Assistant, Alexandra Catibog, describes her time spent working with this incredible community.

LEAF was lucky to take part in SpruceLab's 'Earth Tending' green infrastructure employment and training program this spring. We teamed up with a group of Indigenous community members to plant 100 trees and shrubs in Richmond Hill. The intention of the gathering was for both groups to work towards a common goal of naturalizing David Hamilton Park, while sharing ecological, cultural and skill-building knowledge with one another.