Another critical component of the Essex Region Conservation Authority's flood mitigation efforts has taken a hit.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has announced it is eliminating its 50-Million Trees Program.
The announcement comes just days after Conservation Ontario, which oversees 36 conservation authorities, said the Ford government was cutting the budget for flood management programs in half.
Flooding at Point Pelee National Park on Monday, April 16, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Point Pelee National Park)
"Part of our mitigation program that we deliver is our tree planting, is our wetland restoration program," said ERCA General Manager Richard Wyma. "There's connections now between a number of the different programs that are being affected. Even changes to the Endangered Species Act -- are going on the health of our ecosystem."
The conservation authority has partnered with the 50 Million Trees Program since 2011, and since then has planted around 50,000 a year, or 450,000 trees over the past eight years.
The program's annual budget is $4.7-million, and over the years, the local authority has received about $650,000.
It started in 2008 as a carbon sequestration program, and since then 27-million trees have been planted province-wide helping to rebuild much of the forest canopy lost to development and farming.
Currently, the average forest canopy in Ontario is about 26 per cent, according to Forests Ontario. The canopy in Windsor-Essex is far less.
"When ERCA was established in 1973, we were at less than 3.5 per cent natural area cover. We're now a little more than 8.5 per cent," said Wyma. "It's still a long way from our own goal of 12 per cent, and even that 12 per cent is very low when you look at other targets that are set by Environment Canada and other partners that are saying minimums need to be 30 per cent."
Forests Ontario said the canopy needs to cover 40 per cent of the land to be sustainable.
Wyma said the program's elimination would not impact tree planting this year. He still anticipates 70,000 trees will be planted with its help.
On Sunday, April 28 ERCA is hosting a community tree planting in East Windsor starting at 10 a.m. It has about 2,000 seedlings to get into the ground.