Tuesday, February 13, marked the third of four educational events in Pelham facilitated by PATH, Pelham Advocates for Trees and Habitat. With the support of PATH, the Town of Pelham has been awarded grants from the Niagara Community Foundation and the Toronto Dominion Banks- Friends of the Environment, including funds for public education.
The seminar, held in the Accursi Room at the Meridian Community Centre, featured guest speaker Ivan Fredette, a Fenwick resident and owner of Safe Tree, a local business providing tree services to private and public customers, including the Town of Pelham.
During the seminar, The Study of Trees in the Urban Forest, Fredette, a certified arborist, spoke passionately about the importance to Pelham of maintaining its tree canopy and arboreal assets in a presentation that combined practical information and advocacy.
Fredette traced the history of various invasive insects and the significant damage they have done to forests and urban environments in Niagara, with a combination of facts and anecdotes. Dutch elm disease, Emerald ash borer, Cedar leafminer, European gypsy moth (LLD moth), Box tree moth and others were discussed. In each case Fredette offered suggestions for tree protection and care at both the private and community level, including pruning, the potential benefits and risks of spraying or injecting preventative chemicals, removal, and other remedies.
The very recent arrival in Ontario of Oak Wilt, and its potentially devastating consequences for Niagara’s Carolinian forests specifically, was used as an example of the necessity to significantly improve efforts focused on public education for residents, decision-makers within government, and for-profit corporations.
Fredette explained that United States, especially Michigan, has been battling Oak Wilt for decades, and that the disease’s spread to Niagara from New York was anticipated. Town staff and council’s quick response through posting notification alerts on the Town’s website and establishing an invasive species fund was acknowledged. (See complete story in Pelham Today June 22, 2023: https://www.pelhamtoday.ca/local-news/oak-wilt-pelham-council-warned-that-up-to-a-third-of-towns-trees-at-risk-7179539 )
Fredette applauded Pelham’s initiatives and awareness of the need to find balance between humans and trees.
“Thirty percent canopy coverage is what is needed for sustainable forest,” he said. “Minimum. Of all the municipalities that we work for, Pelham is by far ahead of everybody else in the fact that they’re actively maintaining thirty percent canopy coverage.”
Part Four of PATH’s Educational Seminar Series will feature Albert Garofalo, a Field Biologist and Instructor at Niagara College, who has worked with many conservation authorities, the provincial government and Environment Canada. His theme will be The Value of our Natural Heritage (Trees and Wetlands).
Open to the public at no charge, the event will be held March 26 at the MCC. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., seminar starts at 7 p.m.
