GORDON/BARRIE ISLAND—Another 11,500 trees have been planted on a Gordon/Barrie Island property just outside of Gore Bay. One of the reasons for reforestation of the property is for future plans to create “Priddle Park” to provide for public camping in the future.
“One of the reasons we have this tree planting project in place has to do with having the park in the future,” said Cole McLaughlin. “But it is also being done for deer and wildlife management, to benefit the environment and to cut down on the wind that howls across that field about 300 miles per hour,” he quipped. “It is also being done to cut down on erosion on the field.”
“But yes, one of the main reasons is for a park area,” said Mr. McLaughlin. “And the Western Manitoulin Community Garden wants to grow different species of local grown food, and the trees being planted this and last year will help to create shade that will help with this.” It is also being done for landscaping of the property as well.
Mr. McLaughlin explained previously the goal in the future is to open Priddle Park. “My mother is a Priddle and my grandfather was E.F. Priddle, mayor of the Town of Gore Bay for many years (1942-1956 and 1959-1960).”
Mr. McLaughlin further explained, “I was looking for a source of tree planting funding, and the 50 Million Tree program came up in my search. I contacted Laing Bennett, of Algoma-Manitoulin Forestry Services (AMFS). He used to work for the Ontario Paper Company which used to own property at Vidal Bay, some of the property on Cockburn Island and some other properties on Manitoulin Island.”
AMFS partnered with Forest Ontario, the project developer, said Mr. Bennett. “When we are contracted by a client, we identify an area and prepare a plan for it. If it is satisfactory to the owner of the property, we can go ahead and submit an application for approval (from Forests Ontario).”
The total tree planting area is 14.5 acres and last year 12,200 red pine and white spruce were planted in the first area field last year.
Mr. Bennett, who owns AMFS along with his partner Lesley Phillips explained last Tuesday, “we are halfway done this year’s part of the project and should be done by Thursday at noon. The work on this field is harder than it was on the other field where we planted trees last year.”
“The trees we planted last year are doing really well, and the winter survival was really good,” said Mr. Bennett.
“In total we are planting 11,500 trees this year, 8,000 white spruce and 3,500 white pine in this area of 5.5 hectares,” said Mr. Bennett.
Mr. Bennett pointed out, “this is the final stage of the tree planting, and we hired Regen Forest Services Limited (based out of Sault Ste. Marie) to carry out the work.”
Peetrylia Wreggitt, forest technician/managing partner in Regen told the Expositor that her work crew includes three women who are all in their first year of tree planting, including a co-op high school program student, Sault College student and a natural environment studies student. Matt Dreifelds is a veteran having 10 years of experience in tree planting.
Mr. Bennett pointed out it will take between five and 10 years for the trees to grow to about five feet tall.
