December 02, 2020
Daniela Serodio
When Cynthia Brown moved into her Toronto home in 2012, she described the backyard as a neglected rectangle of dirt and weeds. This Urban Forest Champion saw this as an opportunity to create the backyard of her dreams, an outdoor extension of her home full of native species. Eight years later, her backyard is all that and more!
November 11, 2020
Lam Tran
Being a young adult is a time of tremendous growth, both personally and professionally, as people move into “the real world.” Navigating this transition can be difficult, particularly for underrepresented individuals looking to enter a field dominated by other demographic groups. LEAF developed the Young Urban Forest Leaders (YUFL) program to support underrepresented young folks who are at the beginning of their careers in urban forestry. Funded in part by the City of Toronto through an Urban Forestry Grant, this program sets participants up to be in the driver’s seat of their own career.
November 09, 2020
Visitor (not verified)
As part of the Toronto Community Housing (TCH) Planting and Stewardship Initiative, funded in part by the City of Toronto through an Urban Forestry Grant, Janice Lam, LEAF Program Assistant, and I delivered 247 native shrubs to 15 TCH properties in late September. Before these fun-filled delivery days, we hosted a virtual shrub care training session for TCH tenants. The tenants, both new and seasoned urban forest stewards, will be helping native woody plants survive and thrive on TCH properties!
November 06, 2020
Brian Millward
Tags: stewardship
This fall, with support from Ontario Power Generation’s Regional Biodiversity Program, we launched a new project to increase biodiversity on public lands in York and Durham Regions by the year 2022. We’re happy to announce a great start to this project! This fall alone, we planted 1,617 native trees and shrubs in and hosted a virtual tree tour, attended by 90 people.
November 04, 2020
Visitor (not verified)
Tags:
A little girl named Sophia, along with her community, needs to raise $430,000 to rescue and preserve a heritage red oak tree that is estimated to be over 250-years-old by December 12, 2020.
November 02, 2020
Visitor (not verified)
Tags: stewardship
Throughout the month of October, LEAF staff and volunteers worked together to naturalize 5,650 square meters of public land in the City of Richmond Hill. Together, we planted over 1,600 native trees and shrubs! It’s a great start to our bigger goal of planting 6,000 native trees and shrubs by 2022 with support from Ontario Power Generation’s Regional Biodiversity Program. Sites will be selected across York and Durham Regions. Below, we share information on our naturalization efforts and photos capturing our activities.
October 30, 2020
Visitor (not verified)
As autumn sets in, LEAF is wrapping up its third year of the Toronto Community Housing (TCH) Planting and Stewardship Initiative which is funded in part by the City of Toronto's Urban Forestry Grant. And, I am wrapping up my contract as Stewardship Assistant! I wanted to take this moment to share my experience monitoring the trees planted in 2018 and 2019, connecting with TCH tenants and learning about the value of planting trees in low-income communities.
October 28, 2020
Lam Tran
Tags: Tree Tour
COVID-19 may have stopped us from meeting in-person, but it sparked new ways of connecting and engaging with each other. To celebrate National Tree Day on September 23, 2020, we hosted a free virtual tree tour of Lake Wilcox Park, located in Richmond Hill.
October 22, 2020
Brian Millward
Tags: stewardship
Planting native trees and shrubs on public lands has many long-term benefits, including increasing essential habitat for local wildlife. To ensure our efforts are successful, we’ll be monitoring the impact of our tree planting events on plant biodiversity over time. Thanks to support from Ontario Power Generation’s Regional Biodiversity Program, we can assess each site as it establishes itself and adaptively improve our future naturalization efforts when needed.
October 19, 2020
Daniela Serodio
Tags: stewardship
This fall, LEAF staff and volunteers have begun planting native trees and shrubs in York Region as part of a larger, three-year project to increase biodiversity on public lands in York and Durham Regions. Among project activities are planting 6,000 native trees and shrubs, monitoring sites before and after planting and engaging local community members. These activities are made possible in part, thanks to support from Ontario Power Generation’s Regional Biodiversity Program.