Niagara Region will be circulating a Brock University tree-planting proposal to area municipalities and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) as a possible way of addressing climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be that we would likely be getting into tree-planting programs that are much more significant and go beyond community boundaries, so I think they (Brock students) are scratching a very important surface here,\u201d said Rino Mostacci, the Region’s Commissioner of Planning and Development Services.<\/p>\n
Mostacci’s comments came during a meeting of the Region\u2019s Planning and Development Committee Wednesday, March 22 at which graduate student Alyssa Davis in Brock University\u2019s Department of Earth Sciences presented a \u201cTwo-for-One Trees\u201d proposal that she and her Environmental Assessment class put together.<\/p>\n
Committee\u00a0members passed a motion by Dave Augustyn, Pelham Mayor and Niagara Regional Councillor, that Davis\u2019 presentation be circulated to the 12 municipalities and the NPCA and \u201cthat the presentation be referred to staff for report on the impacts for the region and recommendations on how the\u00a0Region might enact a similar policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposal essentially calls for two trees to be planted for every tree cut down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see tree planting as one of the easiest efforts we can undertake to combat the issue of global warming,\u201d said Davis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were thinking that the Region and its municipalities would be in the perfect position to do this because they\u2019re in charge of maintaining roadways, parks and other public land,\u201d said fellow graduate student Kristen Shaver, who joined Davis in the question-and-answer period.<\/p>\n
The planting of trees can be used as a strategy to mitigate the effects of global warming.<\/p>\n
During the process of photosynthesis, trees remove carbon dioxide from and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. The carbon is then stored within the plant\u2019s woody tissues.<\/p>\n
Anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere is the largest contributor to global warming. While some carbon dioxide originates from natural sources, much of it comes from burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests and other human activities.<\/p>\n
Fascinated by trees\u2019 role in removing carbon dioxide, Davis, Shaver and other students in Brand\u2019s Environmental Assessment class were spurred on by a comment their professor made noticing a lack of trees on a highway he uses to commute to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Brand thought that there may have been a policy for Pelham and we thought, \u2018let\u2019s just look at all of the municipalities within the region and see if there was something for all of them related to tree planting\u2019,\u201d Davis recalled.<\/p>\n
It quickly became a class research project. Shaver explains that each student in the class picked one to three of Niagara Region\u2019s 12 municipalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe looked into tree-planting policies, bylaws, statements they have posted online; we called, e-mailed, we got as much information as possible,\u201d Shaver said.<\/p>\n
The class found that, of Niagara Region\u2019s 12 municipalities, only five had policies that required a minimum of one tree be planted for every one removed, and of those five, only one mentioned maintaining newly-planted trees to ensure their survival.<\/p>\n
The class then crafted measures for a tree-planting policy, including:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can start at this level within the Niagara region and then hopefully move forward to all municipalities across Canada,\u201d said Davis.<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of Wednesday\u2019s Planning and Development Committee meeting, Mostacci explained that Niagara Region had endorsed a \u201cwork program\u201d to address climate change and become net zero communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cNet zero\u201d refers to buildings\u2019 energy use being roughly equal to the amount of energy they generate through solar panels or other measures, greatly reducing reliance on fossil fuels or electricity.<\/p>\n
Mostacci said part of the work program involves researching greenhouse gas inventories and other climate change impacts in Niagara Region and measures the Region could implement to move to net zero communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cRetaining and planting additional trees is a significant part of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n