Tree planting to the rescue

In the early 1900s, the Ontario government began working with county governments to draw up laws and agreements to encourage people to plant trees in the blowsand areas in hopes of bringing them back to life, says Ken Elliott, a forestry specialist based at the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Southern Science and Information office in London.

Conifers were chosen for planting as they could tolerate the harsh, open conditions of the dry, infertile blowsands.  Red pine was seen as the native species that would have future value and could best stabilize these sites.  Over the course of the 20th century, these mostly publicly-owned plantations grew well under the watchful eye of the province through agreements with municipalities and conservation authorities. These new forests allowed for soil enrichment and shelter under which a variety of other tree species, shrubs, and wild animals could thrive.  The highly degraded waterways in these areas were restored, and erosion, sedimentation and flash flooding returned to levels expected in healthy forests.

Over the years, millions of people have enjoyed hiking, skiing, cycling, and other activities in these plantations without even realizing their historic nature.  County governments and other owners have realized as much as $1 million a year through careful management that includes harvesting of mature pines for utility poles and other uses.

“Plantations lack biological diversity,” says Elliott. “Yet no one can dispute that plantations have transformed Ontario’s desolate blowsand areas back into healthy and diverse forests. It’s a remarkable success story and was the beginning of ecological restoration in Ontario.”

So the next time you take a hike through a red pine plantation, look around and try to imagine what it might have looked like 100 years ago…and be glad it’s green and healthy today.

Early settlers in southern Ontario cleared many hectares of forest, but in some areas the topsoil was too thin for farming.