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Landowners attend tree planting workshop at the Ferguson Forest Centre
Kemptville, ON - March 6, 2008 - Last night, local landowners attended a
workshop at the Ferguson Forest Centre to learn about tree planting, at
one of a series of 12 workshops being held across the province by Trees
Ontario.
Trees Ontario, with its partners, the Ontario Forestry Association (OFA)
and the Rideau Conservation Authority and the Ferguson Forest Centre,
presented information from tree planting experts on how to plant trees
and reduce costs, while helping to protect the environment.
Part of this increased attendance is due to the introduction of a new
incentive program recently announced by the Ministry of Natural
Resources, called the 50 Million Tree Program. As part of its commitment
to reduce the effects of climate change, the Ontario government has
joined the United Nations Billion Tree Program and plans to plant 50
million trees by 2020, the single largest commitment so far to the UN
program.
"This is the single largest tree planting commitment we have seen in
Ontario in a very long time," said Michael Scott. "This program will
allow our partners to rejuvenate the tree planting infrastructure, and
will provide a significant subsidy to eligible property owners - $1.25 a
tree. Other incentive programs available to help landowners reduce costs
range from $0.10/tree to $0.50/tree, depending on the size of their
property and the number of trees planted," he explained.
In addition, the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP) can
provide significant property tax reductions for landowners who satisfy
certain basic criteria such as having over 10 acres of forested land and
a willingness to prepare and follow a forest management plan. Upon
acceptance into the program, the forested portion of the property is
reassessed as managed forest and taxed at a reduced rate the following
year.
Additional workshops will be hosted by Trees Ontario across the province in the next two months. Workshop dates and locations are available at www.treesontario.on.ca.
For more information contact:
Elissa Schmidt, Manager of Communications, Trees Ontario
tel: 1-877-646-1193
email: elissas(at)treesontario.on.ca
Trees Ontario, working with its partners, is the largest, not-for-profit tree planting agency in North America and is committed to the re-greening of Ontario through tree planting efforts. The goal of the organization is to restore Ontario’s tree planting capacity, especially throughout southern Ontario on private lands, by providing funding and planning support for its tree planting partners, which includes local Conservation Authorities, Stewardship Councils, municipal governments and community volunteer groups.
Last spring Trees Ontario, with its partners, planted nearly 3 million trees. Its goal is to increase tree planting to 10 million trees every year by 2015.
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