On May 10th, hundreds of elementary and high school students from Richmond Hill participated in the 10th annual Richmond Hill Rotary Tree Planting in the Oak Ridges Moraine Park. They came to reforest the spectacular Oak Ridges Moraine Park and Conservation Reserve in North Richmond Hill. The planting site this year is across Old Colony Road from Bond Lake Public School, west of Bayview.
High school students arrived for "planting leader" training in the morning. The main groups of 350 Grade 5/6 students arrived for lunch and a spectacular Raptor Show. Afterwards, they planted 800 native tree and shrub seedlings. Students participated from Bond Lake Public School, Oak Ridges Public School, As-Sadiq Islamic School, Bayview Secondary School.
The program was funded by Richmond Hill Rotary, Toronto Dominion Bank Friends of the Environment Foundation https://fef.td.com/, Richmond Hill Garden and Horticultural Society http://www.richmondhillgardensociety.org/ and supported by Toronto and Region Conservation Authority https://trca.ca/ and the Town of Richmond Hill https://www.richmondhill.ca.
The program has reforested nearly 20 acres with native species in its 9 years of operation. As important is introducing thousands of high school and public school students of all York Region schools to active support of nature and to this unique Park in north Richmond Hill which has grown to nearly 5 square kilometers, which include the corridor park, Jefferson Forest and other lands managed by TRCA. Richmond Hillers and York Region residents need to discover this wonderful natural area by foot or bike. The Planting Program encourages that discovery.
Special thank you to Michael White, who coordinated the project.
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