462,000 new trees and counting planted in Mississauga as city aims for one million
Published November 9, 2022 at 11:11 am
Mississauga is nearly halfway to its goal of adding one million trees to the city’s canopy by 2032.
The most recent count is at 462,066 new trees planted since the City of Mississauga launched the One Million Trees Mississauga initiative in 2013.
The goal, City officials say, is to “help conserve and enhance the city’s open spaces and forested areas for future generations to enjoy.”
Under the program, trees are planted by City staff, community partners and volunteers on both public and private property.
“Residents who plant a tree on their private residential property can add it to our tree planting total and have it count towards our One Million Trees goal,” City officials say.
Currently, Mississauga counts some 2.1 million trees on both public and private lands across the city. And that number is growing as the municipality, conservation authorities, businesses, community groups, schools and individuals all contribute their tree-planting efforts.
Of the 462,066 trees planted since 2013, 292,792 have been planted by the City, 90,275 by Credit Valley Conservation and 54,237 by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
#DYK Mississauga is home to more than 2 million trees on both public and private lands.
🌲🌳🌲🌳🌲🌳🌲🌳
We’re almost half of the way toward our goal to plant one million new trees by 2032 through our One Million Trees program.
🔗https://t.co/zsv8JzlrQy @saugaparksrec pic.twitter.com/5bCCE5JMZY
— City of Mississauga (@citymississauga) November 9, 2022
The Credit River Anglers Association has planted thousands of trees as well, and the rest have been put in the ground by businesses of all sizes, schools, community groups and individuals.
The top five contributions from schools are:
- St. Marcellinus Secondary School 3,188
- Olive Grove School 2,717
- Mississauga Secondary School 2,002
- University of Toronto Mississauga 1,848
- Port Credit Secondary School 1,559
Earlier this year, Mississauga once again received international recognition for its commitment to keeping trees healthy and adding significantly to the number of trees across the city.
For the third consecutive year, the City of Mississauga received the 2021 Tree Cities of the World designation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Arbor Day Foundation.
The designation program recognizes cities around the globe committed to ensuring that urban forests and trees are properly maintained, sustainably managed and celebrated.
Mississauga was among 18 Canadian cities and 138 worldwide to receive the designation.
To receive the Tree Cities of the World designation, Mississauga officials say the City met five core standards:
- establishing responsibility for the care of trees
- setting rules for managing trees
- having an updated inventory of local trees resources
- allocating resources for tree management
- celebrating achievements for trees.