Thank you Oakville for a successful 2018!
It has been a great year of environmental stewardship and learning! We would like to acknowledge the hard work of the many supporters we have had and are so proud of!
We strive to build a stronger community through our tree planting and educational initiatives and this year, it has once again been inspiring to see the community coming together and making a difference! Many thanks to the 3140 volunteers who came out this year, rain or shine, to plant trees, pick up litter, remove invasive plants, maintain schoolyard trees, and plant and care for pollinator gardens. We were fortunate to work with over 60 schools, community groups, corporate teams, and supporting partners this past year! Thank you Oakville, together we planted over 2000 trees!
We believe Environmental Education is key to developing attitudes and actions that have a positive impact on our urban ecosystems. We were thrilled to be able to connect with more than 3000 Oakville students and residents through our education presentations, hands-on environmental workshops, tree care days, pollinator garden and tree tenders training workshops, tree tours, and urban forest cycle tour. In total, we hosted 239 environmental outreach events!
Urban nature restoration sites got some extra TLC this year at Glen Oak Trail, Beechnut Woods, Clearview Woods, Arbourview Woods, Lion’s Valley Park, Oak Park, Shell Park, Millstone Park, Castlefield Park, North Munn’s Creek, Pelee Woods, Woodgate Woods, Indian Ridge Trail, and Falling Green Pond A big shout-out to our corporate partners and supporters who joined us during our Corporate Greening Day and public events: Ian Martin Group, PwC, Booking.com, Telus Mobility, UPS, and Mindshape.
Thanks to dedicated corporate teams, our OCA Youth Stewards, and students participating in our GreenRoots program, we removed over 12 truckloads of harmful invasive plants from our woodlands. Better still, our monitoring of trees that we’ve planted in previous years with volunteers, showed that our trees are doing well – with a survival rate above 85% at all sites!
Our new pollinator garden is another exciting endeavor that started in 2018! The Butterfly Wing garden at Memorial Park, adjacent to the Wellspring Birmingham Gilgan House is beginning to take flight, thanks to the support from the Town of Oakville Horticultural department, a grant from Landscape Ontario’s Toronto Chapter, and amazing volunteers. We will continue with this project in 2019 to transition the space into a beautiful pollinator oasis.
Our Backyard Tree Planting Program (in partnership with LEAF – Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) planted 101 native trees and 89 shrubs in Oakville backyards! Through this program Oakville property owners have the chance to meet with an arborist to discuss their tree planting options and choose native trees or shrubs for their backyard, multi-unit property or business property. Trees are delivered and planted by knowledgeable staff at a subsidized price, thanks to funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Town of Oakville.
Oakvillegreen’s Ready for Rain program also kicked off in 2018!
Thanks to support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we will be building raingarden demonstration sites in Oakville and sharing more ways you can absorb rainwater where it falls, reduce flooding, and keep pollution out of our creeks and Lake Ontario.
On behalf of the staff and board of Oakvillegreen, THANK YOU for your enthusiasm, hard work and commitment! Thank you for caring for the environment and for empowering others as well! We couldn’t have done all of the above without you. See you in 2019!
