Toronto Region Stewardship
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Town of Oakville
In partnership with the Town of Oakville and the local environmental group Oakville Green, Evergreen has been delivering naturalization initiatives in Oakville since 2004. Our work in Oakville has focused on engaging residents in native tree and shrub planting events. In 2008, Appleby College students and local residents helped plant 2,000 native trees in Kingsford Gardens on Earth Day. This project was part of an effort to remove and replace a thicket of invasive buckthorn with native trees and shrubs.
In 2008 we planted 3250 trees with 350 volunteers participating in planting events. -
City of Mississauga
Evergreen has been active in Mississauga for many years, with our programming being formalized in 2004 thanks to a multi-year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Since then, we have seen our program in Mississauga grow to include naturalization and stewardship work not only in parks across the city, but also on the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto. In addition, Evergreen is also developing a program with Credit Valley Conservation that will engage corporate citizens in the greening of their commercial and industrial sites across the city over the next three years.
In 2008 we planted 3190 trees with 905 volunteers participating in planting events. -
Parc Downsview Park
In 2006, as part of a larger habitat restoration and naturalization effort to create Canada’s first national urban park, Evergreen and Parc Downsview Park (PDP) partnered to begin the transformation of a 74-acre turf area at this former military base into a native forest ecosystem. Over the last few years, Evergreen has partnered with PDP on restoration and stewardship activities. We have also presented workshops to youth to further educate them about the benefits and importance of urban greening and to engage them in the many activities offered at the site.
In 2008 we planted 3700 trees with 1933 volunteers participating in planting events. -
Town of Richmond Hill
Evergreen has been working in partnership with the Town of Richmond Hill since 2003 to increase citizen involvement in local habitat restoration projects and to build awareness of the importance of a healthy natural environment in the town. A recent initative is to create a new native tree nursery at Phyllis Rawlinson Park. The project aims to create a supply of healthy, local trees for future restoration projects in the region.Through this exemplary partnership, Evergreen and the Town of Richmond Hill have held hundreds of events and engaged thousands of volunteers in hands-on activities.
In 2008 we planted 2850 trees with 539 volunteers participating in planting events. -
City of Toronto
Since Evergreen was founded in 1991, we have been working as a partner of the City of Toronto’s Natural Environment department. Through this partnership, Evergreen has carried out hundreds of community planting and stewardship events in partnership with both the City and various other organizations such as Friends of the Don East, Toronto Bay Initiative, Waterfront Toronto, Toronto Region Conservation and Friends of the Rouge. As this partnership has grown, so has our programming. We now work closely with the City in not only the area of naturalization, but also in community food gardens, urban agriculture and community development.
In 2008 we planted 1000 trees with 325 volunteers participating in planting events. -
City of Toronto (Scarborough)
Through our long-time relationship with the City of Toronto, Evergreen has carried out a number of tree and shrub plantings in various Scarborough parks over many years. Our presence in the Scarborough area expanded to a new level in 2006 when we included the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. In the last three years, our program has also grown to include new community partners such as Centennial College, Rouge Park, Highland Creek Stewardship group, and the Toronto Zoo.
In 2008 we planted 2790 trees with 1165 volunteers participating in planting events. -
Town of Markham
In 2008, Evergreen expanded our stewardship and restoration programming into Markham, Ontario. This was a natural expansion as we have been active previously elsewhere in York Region through our work with Richmond Hill and interest had been expressed by a number of schools and community groups to see our programs being offered in Markham, too. We started small in 2008 with four planting events and two education events, but will be continuing to grow this program in 2009 and beyond as it proved to be a success for both the Town and Evergreen.
In 2008 we planted 900 trees with 118 volunteers participating in planting events.
