Cutting down a tree? Plant two to replace it.

That’s the recommendation from students in the Brock University Environmental Assessment class, which will be presenting its “Two-for-One Trees” policy proposal to Niagara Region on Wednesday, March 22.

“We see tree planting as one of the easiest efforts we can undertake to combat the issue of global warming,” says Alyssa Davis, Master’s student in the Department of Earth Sciences who will be leading the presentation.

Davis will be highlighting the class’s research on forest cover in the region and the country, Canada’s carbon dioxide emissions and more details of the proposal.

“We hope that each municipality within the Niagara region will be inspired to act with this “Two-for-One Trees” policy on tree replacement, if they haven’t already done so,” says Davis.

Among the reasons the Environmental Assessment students give for why Niagara’s 12 municipalities would want to come on board:

• Trees remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Earth’s atmosphere. Too much carbon dioxide — mostly from human activities — is a key contributor to global warming. Increasing the number of trees will take some of this carbon dioxide out of circulation.

• Trees add to the aesthetics of a place. Research has shown that quality of life improves with exposure to natural environments and green spaces.

• Trees make excellent snow fences, wind breakers and other barriers.

“We were thinking that the Region and its municipalities would be in the perfect position to introduce the planning policy because they’re in charge of maintaining roadways, parks and other public land,” says Kristen Shaver, also a Department of Earth Sciences Master’s student.

Also at the meeting Wednesday will be the class’s supervisor, Professor of Earth Sciences Uwe Brand, who came up with the idea for the research project after noticing a lack of trees on his daily commute to Brock.

The presentation will take place at the Planning and Development Committee meeting Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the council chambers at Niagara Region Headquarters in Thorold.