Tree giveaway brings neighbours together, helps replenish local canopy

Fort Erie lost 65 per cent of its tree canopy about 15 years ago when the Emerald Ash Borer started wreaking havoc.

Impacts of the invasive insect that attacked and killed millions of trees in southwestern Ontario and part of the U.S. are still being felt, and for the last eight years, the Town of Fort Erie has been helping with a remedy.

Saturday was an annual event where 800 trees are given out to eager property owners who formed a massive lineup at 8 a.m. to get their pick of species on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We took a big hit with the Emerald Ash Borer,” said Darren Kearns, the town’s arborist who was the lead staffer at Saturday’s giveaway in the Leisureplex parking lot.

Many people who visit are there each year, slowly but surely planting trees in place of ones that were killed by the invasive beetle.

“We’re starting to see people each year and they’re building back the canopy at their homes,” Kearns told Fort Erie Radio.

He said this is a “great time of year,” because it’s focused on new life and replenishing trees, and not removing dead and hazardous ones, which is what he spends a lot of his days doing.

Darel Holdsworth said he has lost 70 trees on his land since the ash borer arrived from Asia.

He called the town’s gesture “terrific,” and one that he has taken advantage of for the last half decade.

“Every year we come and get a tree to replace the ones we lost,” said Holdsworth.

The event is also a chance for neighbours to bond and collaborate.

Laura Torres and Sharon Kenney live next to each other on Madison Avenue, and they went to the giveaway together on Saturday, each of them picking up a tree.

Kenney said she was “thrilled” about her new tulip tree.

Torres said she and Kenney share ideas often.

“She gives me gardening tips all the time,” she said.

The Fort Erie Horticultural Society was also on hand, helping attendees get registered.

The society, through its plant sales and membership fees, partners with the town to buy trees planted in the community, an effort separate from Saturday’s program.

They were taking part Saturday to help everything run smoothly, said past-president Ruth Voldmarkle.

“We volunteer today because we are so committed to seeing things get regreened,” she said.

There were five species handed out; white pine, red pine, sugar maple, tulip, and white spruce.

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