Published Thursday, April 21, 2016 by Gisele Winton Sarvis
Read the full article at theenterprisebulletin.com
[excerpt]
In the late 19th Century, farmers were given an incentive to plant maples trees along roadsides.
“It’s taken them a long time to grow and they are starting to die off. We’ve got a 100 years out of most of these trees,” said Ken Jewett, 85, of Toronto and Mulmer Township.
Jewett noticed this years ago and founded Maples Leaves Forever, a charitable organization that offers a thank-you rebate to people who plant native maple trees on their properties.
Over the past 15 years, thousands of trees have been planted and Jewett has invested more than $2 million in the program.
“Our organization has taken it on to be the godfather of the maple tree. We think it deserves an organization to promote it and see that it gets in the ground,” he said.
While it would seem a no-brainer to plant maple trees, Jewett said native maple trees have not been planted in the City of Ottawa parks for more than 20 years, so he petitioned the National Capital Commission.
“After six years we finally convinced them to make a declaration to make sure that maple trees are going to be planted,” he said.
A treed fence line, laneway or roadway helps stop soil erosion, said Grillmayer, adding that he has seen several farmers remove the trees to accommodate larger machinery.
Published Thursday, April 21, 2016 by Gisele Winton Sarvis
Read the full article at theenterprisebulletin.com