CNLA News - December 2024
Volunteers team up to plant at Rolston Community Forest
By Stuart Service
Volunteers from the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club (HNC) have spent the last few years combing through the seven-acre Rolston Community Forest, manually removing Common Buckthorn, an invasive species that crowds out other plants and trees.
That diligent removal work created an opening in the woodlot for roughly 300 native trees and shrubs to be planted by about 40 volunteers during a community planting day on Oct. 26.
“Everyone was really excited to just get some plants in the ground,” said Brittany Killingbeck, stewardship technician with the HNC. “Some of our regular volunteers came out and we had people who’d just come out to volunteer for the first time; high school students, families — it was a great mix of people. Everyone is from the area, knew about the park, and they were excited to see the positive changes here.”
The HNC is a 105-year-old, volunteer-led organization dedicated to the study, appreciation and conservation of Hamilton’s wild plants and animals.
“One of our barriers is funding,” Killingbeck explained. “When we were able to work with the Green Cities Foundation (GCF), it was fantastic. We were able to bring the expertise, help with the onsite planting, get the volunteers together, while the Green Cities Foundation was able to provide us funding and logistical support for actually getting those trees.”
Peter Guinane, a director with the GCF, helped plant a variety of native trees and shrubs supplied by Verbinnen’s Nursery. Guinane said that lending a hand at the Rolston Community Forest, located within Captain Cornelius Park in Hamilton, Ont., was an “energizing” experience.
“It’ll make a nice community opportunity to interact with a natural environment. The Green Cities Foundation loves getting involved in these sorts of projects,” Guinane said, also noting the foundation has been involved in more than 20 projects across Canada in 2024 alone.
“This movement is multiplying and it’s great that Green Cities has the resources to help facilitate all these projects. There’s a lot of momentum in what’s happening here.”
Industry representation at COP16
Alan White, Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA) vice-president and climate change adaptation chair, recently represented the industry at the United Nations’ sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) Convention on BioDiversity in Cali, Colombia from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. This was the second Convention on BioDiversity CNLA has attended; the first was in Montreal in 2022 as a guest of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH). CNLA is honoured to have once again received observer status for this multi-day event.
On Oct. 23, White participated in a panel discussion and shared a snapshot of work being accomplished by the CNLA and the Green Cities Foundation, including the Clean Air Calculator. Led by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), the session titled, “Transformations leading to the ideal city state for a green future,” included Audrey Timm from AIPH, Bruno Marques from the International Federation of Landscape Architects, Dr. Siobhan McQuaid from GoNaturePositive!, and Professor Harriet Bulkeley from Durham University.
Event celebrates 30 years of Communities in Bloom
By Stuart Service, CNLA
The thirtieth edition of Communities in Bloom’s National Symposium and Awards ceremonies brought 147 delegates from more than 40 communities across Canada and worldwide to Charlottetown, P.E.I., from Oct. 17-20.
Members from East Coast Art Party worked on a beautiful, flowery chalk art display outside the waterfront Delta Hotels Prince Edward, finishing just in time for the opening reception where delegates connected with familiar faces and new friends.
On the morning of Oct. 18, insightful keynote speakers from the City of Charlottetown addressed the audience. Simon Wilmot highlighted restoring urban forests after post-tropical storm Fiona in 2022. The morning finished with a panel led by Katrina Cristall on building a resilient local food system.
Various municipal- and community-led projects were featured during four technical tour stops in and around Charlottetown. Delegates visited the MacPhail Woods Ecological Forestry Project and Native Plant Nursery, delving into inspiring work in forest stewardship, wildlife enhancement and watershed protection. The next stop at the Farm Centre Legacy Garden showcased the power of sustainable agriculture and local food production. The group then visited a net-zero City of Charlottetown building powered by geothermal heating and rooftop solar panels. The technical tour concluded at Wright's Creek Watershed and Andrew's Pond, a peaceful walk highlighting ongoing efforts to conserve and enhance wildlife habitats within city limits.
The busy day was capped with the Community Showcase at the PEI Brewing Company, which honoured the hard work and dedication of the Communities in Bloom participants in the Atlantic Edition, National Edition and International Challenge.
October 19 began with keynote speaker Steve Bellamy sharing details about upgrades to the cultural hub that is the South Pavilion at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. Surprise special guest P.E.I. Senator Mary Robinson introduced a panel discussion about the techniques and benefits of gardening with native species.
The surprises continued while CiB delegates were led on a walking tour of the beautiful art installations throughout Charlottetown. They were treated to performance art at Victoria Row with a flash mob by Thriller P.E.I., who performed the choreography to the 1982 anthem to raise money for local food banks.
The night concluded with the Atlantic, National and International Awards Ceremony Gala honouring the dedication and achievements of communities from across Canada, Ireland, Italy, Hungary and the U.S.
“On behalf of our national Board of Directors, our volunteer judges, sponsors and partners, I sincerely thank and congratulate all the communities that have participated in the CiB provincial, national and international programs in this, our 30th year,” said CiB national chair Susan Ellis.
Next year’s CiB Symposium will take place Oct. 16-19 in Stratford, Ont.
Critical ground: Why soil is essential to Canada’s economic, environmental, human and social health
By Jamie Aalbers, CNLA
The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry recently completed a study on the status of soil health in Canada. The committee learned that soil delivers ecosystem services that enable all life on Earth. Ecosystem services such as water purification and storage; climate and flood regulation; nutrient cycling; carbon sequestration; the provision of food, fibre, fuel and construction materials; habitats for organisms; and the foundation for human infrastructure and cultural heritage.
Since the last Canadian report on this topic in 1984, soil management has improved and crop yields have increased with enhanced plant genetics and cultural practices, but these gains have masked the effect of continued soil degradation and loss of agricultural land in every region in Canada. This is a result of climate change and more frequent extreme weather events, urbanization and misread outcomes of soil management practices.
There is no overarching federal strategy currently in place to protect and conserve agricultural and forestry soils in this country. To protect and conserve farmland soil throughout Canada, the committee heard that all levels of government should work together to plan agriculture into, and not out of, communities. Farms cover 62.2 million hectares, or 6.2 per cent of Canada’s total land base. The vastness of our country suggests an abundance of soil, yet only 6.7 per cent of Canada’s land is suitable for agricultural use.
On Feb. 13, 2024, Alan White, vice president and climate change adaptation chair of CNLA, and Phil Paxton, past president of the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance, were invited as witnesses to the Senate committee. They shared insights on soil health from an ornamental horticulture perspective. All prior witnesses provided insights into agricultural, forest soils and northern peat soils. Although Paxton provided input on how nurseries manage soil health, most of their responses focused on the importance healthy urban soils play in climate adaptation and mitigation.
Because of the importance of having green spaces to provide the ecosystem services critical to the 80 per cent of Canadians who live in urban areas, the health of urban soils must be considered too. Cities are not “natural” spaces and as such are not conducive to natural plant and forest growth. The dry, compacted soils needed to support buildings and roadways cannot support plant life. Urban green spaces, green infrastructure, and lawns and gardens cannot thrive and grow without healthy urban soils, but often the health of soils re-introduced into newly built areas is an afterthought. Urban soils require the same pre-planting planning that growers use — invest in the soil first, before even considering planting nursery stock or turf.
Soil degradation, which is a usual outcome of modern development practices, prevents soils themselves from providing ecosystem services, but also discourages successful green space plantings and their subsequent contributions too. The first approach to protect and enhance soil health is to minimize threats to degradation; the second is to adopt practices that build or maintain soil health.
White and Paxton provided a few suggestions to the committee. In the Canadian Landscape Standard (CLS), soil was deemed so important to transplant success that a recent investment with Vineland Research and Innovation Centre resulted in a rewrite and update of Section 5 Growing Medium. All municipalities should have a copy of the CLS on hand to support those responsible for managing soil and plantings in cities.
The second suggestion to the committee was to stop replacing green with grey. Trees and plants capture carbon, but healthy soils capture even more and healthy trees and plants only thrive in healthy soils. Grey infrastructure removes the ability of cities to sequester carbon. Thirdly, topsoil must have certain standards to sustain life, standards such as amounts of organic matter, porosity, salts and pH. Agreeing on the right standards for soils used in urban plantings and putting them into regulations would ensure all urban landscapes set off on the right footing. And finally, offering tax credits to Canadians for improving their own soil and landscapes would lead to substantial climate mitigation and adaptation improvements occurring at the grassroots level.
Governments also need to take into consideration the role of plants in improving soil health. Trees, plants and grasses are a nature-based solution to rehabilitating contaminated soils. One of the recommendations in the report is that the Government of Canada collaborate with provinces, territories and Indigenous governments to develop a national strategy for remediating contaminated soils throughout the country.
In healthy urban soils, trees, plants and grasses can fully deliver the environmental, social and health benefits so critical to enjoying life in the urban ecosystem. And only in healthy nursery soils, can those trees, plants and grasses get a healthy and vigorous start. The full report, which outlines 25 recommendations to protect soils in Canada, can be found online at sencanada.ca followed by a search for “Critical Ground.”