As British novelist Alice Feeney once said, "Everybody has a mother."
This Mother's Day, a Mattawa man will give Mother Earth a helping hand by handing out free tree seedlings.
Mattawa's Wayne Reid has given out tree seedlings and saplings through his annual "Green Side Up Program" since 1984. This year he has quite an assortment of species and sizes as usual, free to all on a first come first served basis.
Reid has about 20,000 trees available, bringing his 40-year total to 500,000 trees and counting. And 90 per cent are planted in the Mattawa area.
On Mother’s Day Sunday from 11 to 2 he and and his volunteers will be at the Canadian Ecology Centre (CEC) Labyrinth within Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park west of Mattawa.
“’Green Side Up', has been a volunteer tree planting project of mine since around 1984," says Reid.
“The name came from a question I had once from a planter who needed me to sum up the most important thing to do when planting so after some thought I said to just remember to plant the tree with the green side up and all should be good, that's how the name came about.”
A local tree nursery, Webb's in Bonfield. has been saving stock for many years. “Each year I manage to get close to 20,000 rescues for free and hand them out to people, schools, and landowners for free."
There are good reasons to plant trees.
“It's important to plant a tree, it's important because there is change happening and as individuals we can do what we can to help to somehow mitigate this change and the best way I know is to plant a tree. A mature tree breathes out enough oxygen to keep 10 people breathing clean air in one day not to mention the benefits to the soil, animals, fish, and people along the way.
“So, yes 40 years of this. From '84 to '96 I was working in tree planting within MNRF and noticed too many good trees being culled for various reasons, so I would gather them up from a few operations and bring them home to give away.
“I'm sure if the Crown knew I was doing that they'd have chastised me because in their view that would've been wrong, so I kept it quiet and sneaked around. After '96 it was tree rescue with Webb's.”
It will also be the time when participants can plant a tree around the perimeter of the labyrinth as part of a landscaping program.
Bill Steer, general manager and founder of the CEC said, “The labyrinth, located in a former softball field, area was identified by the park for landscaping. White spruce and red pine, native species, will be planted. Once the trees mature the labyrinth will have a grotto feel to it.”
He said the labyrinth is a great opportunity for a meditative walkabout during the CEC's 25th anniversary.
Organizers would like participants to bring a small shovel for planting and any containers, like buckets for their trees. The Park will be open for the season and a day-use permit will not be required.
For more information and to request tree seedlings ahead of time contact Wayne at 705-744-0008 or email [email protected].
