Trees Ontario/OPG booth a favourite amongst visitors of the Royal!

November 15, 2010 – The 2010 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, the largest combined indoor agricultural fair and international equestrian competition in the world, ran from November 5-14 at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto and welcomed over 300,000 visitors over its 10-day run.

To underscore the importance of biodiversity, native tree seed and tree planting efforts, Trees Ontario and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) handed out free native White Spruce tree seed kits at this year’s Royal. Over 10,000 native tree seed kits were distributed and kids and families were encouraged to register their seed kits, once planted, to allow for all trees to be tracked across Ontario.

Ron Thayer, Trees Ontario Field Advisor, handing out an OPG/Trees Ontario native tree seed kit to a family eager to plant trees

In addition to distributing native tree seed kits, Trees Ontario staff were on-hand to discuss tree planting tips and techniques as well as tree planting subsidy programs with show attendees. The Ontario Forestry Association (OFA) also shared the booth with Trees Ontario through parts of the Royal. OFA staff provided information on stewardship planning for landowners and handed out Focus on Forests lesson plans to teachers and interested parents.

The shared booth space was beautifully decorated with trees provided by Somerville Seedlings, one of Trees Ontario’s partner nurseries, and was continuously visited by thousands of eager kids, families and individuals excited about obtaining their very own native tree seed kit. “Everyone who has taken home a native tree seed kit to grow and plant a tree has played a role in enhancing the environment,” said Robert H. Keen, RPF, Trees Ontario CEO. “Trees are necessary for a healthy ecosystem and, in turn, a sustainable ecosystem is essential to the health of all Ontarians.”

Santa's Elf offers a native tree seed kit to a young boy who had just shared his wish list with Santa

On the last Sunday of the Royal, Santa and his Elf joined us in encouraging Ontarians to plant trees and saving the environment by handing out the OPG/Trees Ontario native tree seed kits to all who visited Santa and his little helper.

On behalf of all Trees Ontario staff, we would like to thank everyone who participated in making Ontario a greener place by taking home a native tree seed kit and learning more about our tree planting initiatives and subsidy programs.

Santa and his little helper visit Trees Ontario staff at the Trees Ontario/OPG booth

See you next year at the Royal!