Simply Tree-mendous Challenge

50,000 trees to celebrate 50 years of conservation

As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations the NPCA launched the Simply Tree-mendous Challenge, a friendly competition between our watershed municipalities on April 30, 2009. The goal of the challenge is to have residents, groups, service clubs and businesses plant 50,000 native trees/shrubs across the watershed with the focus on incorporating native species especially in urban environments.

The goals of the challenge are simple:

1. Encourage, promote and educate about the use of Native plants in our watershed
2. Build native tree and shrub planting capacity – more native trees and shrubs planted across our watershed than during a normal year through the various major planting agencies  and groups (NPCA, Niagara Restoration Council, Land Care Niagara, Ontario Power Generation) in our watershed.
3. Increase awareness of the NPCA, our staff and programs

Every native tree and shrub that is planted is awarded 1 point toward the challenge to the municipality in which it was planted!

Program Criteria:

Any tree/shrub planted which meets the criteria outlined in the above 3 bullet points counts – (this means as long as it is not part of an existing initiative such as a project outlined in bullet 2 above, and is being paid for by someone other than the agencies as listed in bullet 2 receives a point.

Tree/shrubs can be planted anywhere within the NPCA watershed, urban, rural, riparian, woodlot, etc, does not matter. Participants are asked to record the number and type of native trees/shrubs they plant either on their own lands, or other properties within their municipality.

Each of the watershed municipalities are supporting this initiative and are leading by example and incorporating native trees and shrubs into their operational plantings and development standards.

A scoring system has been set up on the website, scoring will be tracked by municipality and a running total will be kept. At the end of the challenge a special award will be given to the municipality who has scored the highest points.

This challenge is being recorded on the honour system, but we will conduct periodic checks to verify the plantings.

Municipalities are asked to encourage their residents to get involved. To start the challenge, the Conservation Authority has provided each municipality with the first 50 native trees, information including our “Guide to Celebrate Niagara Peninsula’s Native Plants”, and a list of current suppliers to everyone interested in participating in the challenge.