Ontario Tech’s faculty and staff grow trees to support university’s sustainability efforts

On Tuesday, May 24 faculty and staff at the Ontario Tech University will roll up their sleeves for the long-awaited planting portion of the university’s annual We Grow Trees challenge.

This year-long challenge aims to promote the connection between a healthy lifestyle and a healthy environment. The challenge kicked off in the fall of 2015 when participants received information packages explaining the process of growing a tree. Since then they’ve learned how to:

• Collect seeds/acorns fallen from oak trees.
• Foster the seeds over the winter.
• Plant, care for and water the seeds.
• Aid their seed during the growth process into a small tree.

The tree-planting event at Windfields Farm lands will be held on May 24. Prizes will be offered for the tallest tree, the tree with biggest leaves, and the first tree to sprout above the soil.

We Grow Trees is part of the university’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, improve the health of the campus community and environment, and create additional wildlife habitat on campus. It is supported by the university’s Healthy Workplace Committee in partnership with the Office of Campus Infrastructure and Sustainability, and is part of Pollution Probe’s Healthy Communities Campaign. In November 2015, 115 faculty and staff signed up to participate in the challenge.

• What: We Grow Trees faculty and staff tree-planting event
• When: Tuesday, May 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (rain date: Wednesday, May 25)
• Where: Windfields Farm lands

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