On October 23, 2020, Otonabee Conservation and local secondary school students from the Youth Leadership in Sustainability (YLS) program planted 350 trees and shrubs along the shoreline of the stormwater management pond on Marsdale Drive in Peterborough.
The variety of native trees and shrubs selected for this shoreline naturalization project, include fragrant sumac, red osier dogwood, elderberry, snowberry, serviceberry, black chokeberry, and silky dogwood. These species provide a number of benefits including habitat for wildlife and stabilization of the shoreline around the pond.
“We are pleased to collaborate with the City of Peterborough, who is responsible for the ongoing vegetation management and operation of the stormwater management pond, to engage local youth in naturalization projects like this,” shares Dan Marinigh, Otonabee Conservation’s CAO, “These types of opportunities allow students to participate in positive, meaningful actions to mitigate climate change in our watershed.”
The YLS program is an experiential-learning program based in Peterborough, Ontario that prepares grade 11 and 12 students for leadership roles in sustainability initiatives at the local and global levels.
“One of the goals of YLS is to connect students to the organizations that are doing important community work,” explains YLS Lead Teacher and Coordinator, Cam Douglas, “It’s important for students to learn about the work itself, and also to see the faces of organizations like Otonabee Conservation, so they can begin to understand what people do and the educational pathways people follow to get into this kind of work.
Otonabee Conservation is organizing several native tree plantings that will take place throughout the fall, planting 5,690 trees that will sequester over 1.2 million kg of Carbon over their lifetime, with generous support from five community partners.
For more information about Otonabee Conservation’s fall planting events, please visit otonabeeconservation.com. To learn more about the importance of trees, follow Otonabee Conservation on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @OtonabeeC.
For more information contact:
Meredith Carter | Manager, Watershed Management Programs
Otonabee Conservation | mcarter@otonabeeconservation.com | 705-745-5791 x223