On Saturday, May 23, volunteers took to the streets to plant 40 new trees along Carnoustie and Troon Coves in Niverville.
The local chapter of Communities in Bloom plans annual Arbor Day celebrations, and this year TC Energy donated trees and the Town of Niverville donated water, mulch, and soil to plant additional trees throughout the town. The Niverville Fire Department was also on hand to provide volunteer support and water from the town’s fire tanker.
The tree-planting event was made possible after Niverville resident Shaun Macsymic wondered about how to bring more trees to the community. He brought the idea to his employer, TC Energy in Île-des-Chênes. The company has a corporate community investment campaign that donates funds to local projects just like this one. When the idea was approved, Macsymic brought the idea to council back in November.
“I had a vision one day of what it would look like driving through Niverville if there were more trees present along the boulevards in the residential areas,” says Macsymic. “Giving back to communities where we live, work, and operate is important to all of us. With the fast rate of development in town, this will be nice to see in years to come. And if this is adopted year after year it will make for a vibrant community.”
After the idea was planted, Communities in Bloom stepped up, ready and willing to work with TC Energy to help the idea take root.
Communities in Bloom is comprised of passionate volunteers who believe trees help with energy conservation, improved air and water quality, increased property value, and economic vitality.
“We are currently a mix of retirees and business people, seven committee members in total,” says Shirley Hoult of the Communities in Bloom committee. “All have varied interests and skillsets and we work together to find projects and funding that improve the appearance of the community.”
The committee worked together to decide on which types of trees should be planted in which locations. For the Arbor Day planting, they looked for two streets in need of additional trees that would have good residential interest and support for the care of the trees. Four varieties of hardy trees were selected and residents were contacted to confirm their interest, availability to help on planting day, and commitment to provide ongoing care.
On planting day, not all residents were able to be present, but volunteers said they saw about 80 percent of residents on Troon help out and about 95 percent on Carnoustie.
“Overall, the residents appeared to welcome the opportunity to participate in the project,” says Hoult. “Planting was a well-coordinated effort with many of the residents, TC Energy, the town, and community volunteers working together to get the 40 trees planted in three hours. The coffee and doughnuts provided by TC Energy helped to fuel the efforts.”
The original Arbor Day celebration had included a town-wide barbecue, which had to be cancelled due to COVID-19. Despite this, the committee decided to proceed with the tree-planting.
“We paid attention to social distancing as much as we could and had hand sanitizer and gloves available,” says Macsymic. “People were happy to get out… [they] are bored and anxious to do something good. Everything went really well and really smoothly.”
Macsymic volunteered his time on Saturday along with three other TC Energy employees. But he gives credit to the hard work put in by Hoult and other volunteers.
“A lot of the legwork was done by Shirley, who brought the trees and came up with the plan,” he says. “To me, the event went extremely well and was very organized. I was very pleased with the determination of everyone to get this done.”
Future Tree-Planting Events?
Nathan Dueck, town councillor and tree-planting volunteer, was on hand to help on planting day. He says he’d like to see this type of event happen again.
“If there was another corporate entity interested in street beautification, then I think the town would be interested in being involved in discussions at that time,” says Dueck. “We just really appreciate TC Energy for their corporate donation and Communities in Bloom for their organizational skills behind all this. Personally, I’d like to get our streets looking really nice—nicer even than a community like Morden or Blumenort. When you see a community where trees have been growing for 75 years, you see how much life is actually going on in the whole community. They go hand in hand and are somehow representative of a healthy community as a whole. Being involved in tree-planting and street beautification and ending up with a thriving canopy of trees makes the whole community so much more enjoyable for you, your kids, and for your grandkids.”
Hoult points out that further tree-planting initiatives are possible but will be dependent on the availability of sponsorship.
“We would love to see this initiative taken throughout the community,” says Hoult. “A diverse, robust natural world is an investment in the health, vitality, and well-being of individuals and communities, now and into the future.”
Communities in Bloom would welcome contact from new members or anyone who would like to take an interest in helping bring more initiatives like this to Niverville.
