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Huron Expositor, 2007-04-04, Page 9A News Looking for a few good tree planters Klaver hoping to start group to begin reforesting local roadsides S u s a n H u n d e r t m a r MEEMEMID If Pete Klaver gets his way, this Earth Day, April 22, will be the start of a local environmental group that will start to reforest Huron East. "There is no downside to planting trees. It removes carbon from the air and it beautifies the country- side," says Klaver. And, after appearing recently at Huron East council to ask council- lors to learn about global warming and begin to lead the municipality in local solutions, Klaver has decid- ed to become a community leader himself. He recently placed an ad in the Huron Expositor asking interested individuals to call him if they want to help him plant trees. "I'd like it if I could get everybody on board but I'll start with whoever wants to help me plant some trees. There are enough farmers I know locally to approach - it would be nice to have people volunteering their roadside property as a partner," he says of his hope to begin to fill in Huron East roadsides with trees. "I don't want to keep talking about things - I want to get things done," he says. Klaver is modelling his plans on a group called Tree West Nissouri near Thorndale where a handful of committed citizens have planted more than 110 kilometres of road- side - on both sides - with trees dur- ing the past 14 years. "You look at that and you see what a small group of people can do. The more people we can get involved the more we can get accomplished," says Klaver. Bill Ross, one of the founders of the Tree West Nissouri, says he's delighted by the idea that someone in Huron East might be trying to start up a similar group. "First, you need a champion, someone to drive it and then a cer- tain number of farmers will gravi- tate towards it. Then, the others will follow," he says. Ross says he started the group because he was disturbed by the number of roadside trees being lost in his area. "Our roadside trees were reaching the end of their lifespan and there was very little being done to replen- ish them. I've always had an affinity for trees and I was concerned about the depleting forest and bush," he says. Ross says support from the local municipal council was "vital" to the success of the tree -planting project. "Council has to be progressive and understand the need. They can make it more visible and in our case, the township bought trees for several years," he says. Local businesses also got involved with donations of stakes and ties and pieces of drainage tile used to deter animals from eating the bark of new trees. As well, local schools formed earth groups to support the tree planting efforts. Tree West Nissouri has received several environmental awards and been copied by many municipalities in Southwestern Ontario. Ralph Stephen, a former West Nissouri Township councillor, says the township used to have one of the worst records for tree cover in the Upper Thames watershed and is now leading the pack. He says council helped by passing a bylaw allowing trees to be planted two feet in from the road allowance edge. "That way, farmers didn't have to give up any of their productive land to plant trees. But, 50 per cent of the farmers still want the trees .on their land," says Ross. Stephen says supporting a tree planting project is a simple thing for a council to get involved in. "I think a council would be fools not to get involved," he says. In West Nissouri, service berry trees, which only grow up to 20 feet tall, have been planted on the side Pete Klaver plants what he hopes will be the first of many trees in Huron East. 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