Residents in the Harbord Village Residents Association (HVRA) will conclude a project funded by the City of Toronto to maintain their community's urban forest later this month.
The association received a grant two years ago from the city's Parks, Forestry and Recreation department to help subsidize backyard trees for local residents.So far, roughly 60 trees have been planted in backyards in Harbord Village and nearby areas, with an additional 20 trees planted on the grounds of Central Technical School using funds raised within the community.The initiative came about after an inventory of trees in an area bounded by Bloor and College streets on the north and south borders and Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street to the east and west, turned up some unsettling omens."We saw that the big trees that are very characteristic of our streets were in decline," said Margaret Procter of the HVRA. "Many of them are 50 or 60 years old or older. We realized we'd lose our tree canopy if we didn't start replacing them."Dedicated residents took training courses to learn to identify trees in the area and assess their health. Then, volunteers went through the community with clipboards and measuring tools to look at the neighbourhood's tree population in more detail.With the funding they secured, the HVRA was able to begin its tree planting program in earnest. The organization charges residents $20 to have a new tree planted in their backyard."That's a bit of a token compared to the real cost of the tree," Procter said. "Trees can cost anywhere from $60 for a smaller one to $150 or $200 for the larger, rarer ones, and that doesn't cover the cost of having a truck bring the tree in or the (planting) labour."Residents and volunteers from local high schools do the dirty work themselves, with tree recipients responsible for care and maintenance of the trees once they are planted.Thus far, the tree planting has been a success in the community, though the city grant is about to run out.In addition to preserving the area's green canopy, the initiative has had other benefits as well."Backyard trees fit in a city initiative to hold back soil when there's overflow from the sewer system," said Dinny Biggs of the HVRA.With their own community having benefited from the grant, the association is reaching out to nearby communities to help spread the remaining cash around. "We think we've saturated our neighbourhood," Biggs said. "When we got this chunk of money, we wanted to outreach to other communities to see if they wanted to do backyard planting of their own."Procter said residents can still order trees, with the type and size of the tree to be determined by the space they have available. She said the deadline for ordering trees has been pushed back from Sept. 30 until Oct. 15 or 16.For more information on the program, including a list of recommended trees and how to order, visit http://harbordvillage.com/trees