essexcountynature, Author at Essex County Nature

Planting a Tree for Mom
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Planting a Tree for Mom

The Egret Article

Planting a Tree for Mom

By essexcountynature|2019-06-10T17:20:08-04:00June 10th, 2019|The Egret Article|

Planting a Tree for Mom

Written by Ian Naisbitt for The Egret – Issue 35 – Number 2

I planted a tree today. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but I followed the routine I have learned to give the slight sprig a good chance of survival. I dug a bigger hole than the pot the sapling was in, broke up the soil-clay mixture from the hole, unpotted the tree and placed it in the hole. Then I replaced the soil in the hole and lightly pressed it down. I made sure to return all the dirt over the potted soil. A tree wrap was placed around the base of the tree. I walked over to the mulch pile and filled up two empty pots with wood chips, spread the mulch around the base of the tree and made it look like a “wood chip doughnut” – the centre lower than the outside.

A teensy twig, eh?

Our community tree planting on Saturday, May 11, was sponsored by Forests Ontario, the Essex Region Conservation Authority, the City of Windsor and the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup. The site being restored to natural habitat is the former City of Windsor wood disposal yard on Cherry Blossom Drive, off Ojibway Parkway. This location is adjacent to the Black Oak Heritage Park and, fortunately, the existing forest will provide native seeds to enhance the naturalization of the city’s former yard. There is enough room at this site to keep our community partnership busy planting trees for a decade!

Even though the location was off the beaten path, over 50 community volunteers showed up to plant a tree for Mother Earth. Since it was the day before Mother’s Day, we planted one for our mom too.

“Celebrate Mom or any of the amazing women who strengthened your roots and made you grow strong and healthy by planting a tree in their honour.”

What a wonderful day to participate in the morning tree planting experience. This was a family event. Young children joined their mothers and grandmothers. Dads were there too. Mother Nature cooperated by providing sunshine and saving the rain until later.

In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis describes an encounter between his principal character and an old man busily at work planting a tree.

“What is it you are doing?” Zorba asks.

The old man replies: “You can see very well what I’m doing, my son. I’m planting a tree.”

“But why plant a tree,” Zorba asks, “if you won’t be able to see it bear fruit?”

And the old man answers: “I, my son, live as though I were never going to die.”

The response brings a faint smile to Zorba’s lips and, as he walks away, he exclaims with a note of irony: “How strange – I live as though I were going to die tomorrow.”

We plant trees today so future generations will enjoy a hike in the cool shade of the forests we are creating.

I planted a tree today: our future forests.

Earth Day 2019 Planting Event

By essexcountynature|2019-06-10T17:18:09-04:00June 10th, 2019|The Egret Article|

Earth Day 2019 Planting Event

Written by Gina Pannunzio and Ian Naisbitt for The Egret – Issue 35 – Number 2

“When we plant a tree, we are doing what we can to make our planet a more wholesome and happier dwelling-place for those who come after us.” — Holmes

On Sunday, April 28, the Windsor-Essex community celebrated Earth Day 2019 by planting 2,200 trees and shrubs. We planted in Little River Corridor Park: along the Ganatchio Trail and around the pond, west of the Florence Avenue and Beverly Glenn Street junction in East Riverside.

Over 1,400 community volunteers participated in this event and many were first time planters. Volunteers worked from 10 a.m. to noon. There were 60 volunteer groups that registered to help plant. Event organizers appreciated the efforts of the 40 How 2 Crew volunteers who were an incredible force for planting trees.

Saturday’s foreboding forecast: “Cloudy. Periods of rain beginning this evening then changing to periods of snow or rain after midnight. Local snowfall amount: 2 cm. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h near midnight. Low plus 2.”

Yowzah, snowfall?

Sunday morning’s forecast: “Periods of rain ending early this morning then clearing. Wind northeast 20 km/h, which is moderate according the Beaufort Wind Force Scale. High 11 Celsius. UV index 6 or high.”

After the foreboding forecast, what an enjoyable surprise it was to see the sun emerge from the overcast sky.

The species of trees we planted included: white oak, American elm, pin oak, red maple, burr oak, sycamore, basswood, swamp white oak, silver maple, Shumard oak, tulip tree and eastern cottonwood.

Little River Corridor Park, between Riverside Drive and Tecumseh Road, has now benefitted from the planting of 20,681 trees and shrubs since May 1990. The recreational trails throughout the area will permit people to make the desired connection with nature. They may even be lucky enough to experience the different species of wildlife that call this area home. Wildlife observed in the area on the day of the tree planting included: Canada goose, mute swan, red-winged blackbird, turkey vulture, American robin, killdeer and mallard duck.

Planning for the event was done by the Essex Region Conservation Authority, Detroit River Canadian Cleanup (DRCC) and City of Windsor. The DRCC paid for the trees with funds from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

“Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.” — Albert Schweitzer

Little River Spring Cleanup Event 2019

By essexcountynature|2019-06-10T17:16:02-04:00June 10th, 2019|The Egret Article|

Little River Spring Cleanup Event 2019

Written by Gina Pannunzio, Kelly LaForest and Ian Naisbitt for The Egret – Issue 35 – Number 2

On Tuesday, April 2, Essex County Nature was invited by the City of Windsor, the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup and the Essex Region Conservation Authority to participate in a river cleanup in the Little River watershed. Caesar Windsor’s CodeGreen group coordinated the event, which included bringing many supplies and numerous volunteers to the cleanup. Thankfully, Mother Nature cooperated with sunny, mild weather.

About 50 community volunteers cleaned up the section of Little River between Lauzon Road and Tecumseh Road East, adjacent to the Canadian Tire Store. We refer to it as “the Hawthorne site.” This was the 15th time the community has cleaned up the human debris from this site since the autumn of 1996. Volunteers worked from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Little River cleaned up — *Volunteers who cleared garbage out of Little River stand next to the new Detroit River Canadian Cleanup sign. Photo by Claire Sanders*

Along with the CodeGreen group, there were volunteers from the City of Windsor, Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, University of Windsor, Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club and Little River Enhancement Group. This hard-working crew pulled out eight shopping carts (the Hawthorne site is infamous for shopping carts), one lawn chair, a bicycle, a garbage pail, two recycling bins, industrial hoses, two children’s tents, a large pile of wood, a stove pipe baffle, and 55 bags of recyclable and landfill waste. One of the unusual items removed from the river was an aquarium.

Garbage — *Some of the garbage collected during the cleanup of Little River. Photo by Claire Sanders*

We are always pleased to observe local wildlife surviving in the Little River watershed. During this cleanup we noticed a belted kingfisher. A pleasant first-time surprise for us: there were many people kayaking and canoeing this section of Little River, and they were thankful the group was cleaning up the river.

We appreciated the CodeGreen group coordinating this event and look forward to working with them in the future.

essexcountynature

About essexcountynature

Planting a Tree for Mom

Planting a Tree for Mom

Planting a Tree for Mom

Earth Day 2019 Planting Event

Earth Day 2019 Planting Event

Earth Day 2019 Planting Event

Little River Spring Cleanup Event 2019

Little River Spring Cleanup Event 2019

Little River Spring Cleanup Event 2019