June 2021

The
contest is now closed, and all the winners have been chosen. Thank you so
much to everyone who submitted a Love Letter – the trees loved
them!

About
the project

From July 1 – August 25 2021, people of all
ages were encouraged to write a love letter, draw a picture or compose a poem
to share their love of trees. Every two weeks they were entered into a random
draw to win one of our prizes from Karger Gallery, Magic Pebble Books
or Brighten
Up Toys. 

Thank you to the
Township of Centre Wellington for supporting this
project. 

Job
Title: Back Yard Tree Planting
Coordinator

Overall goal: To
develop and deliver a pilot backyard tree planting program for up to 50
households and produce a practical “How-To” manual suitable for small
municipalities. You will also be asked to assist in a one-day naturalization
project at a local industrial
site.

Duration: Mid-July to
early January 2022. 

Job Description
& Duties: The coordinator will develop a project
management plan and prepare a site assessment tool for households (customers)
to assess site conditions (space, availability, soil quality, etc.) of the
homeowner/customer’s yard and ensure locates are completed. Some site
visits may be required.

Equipped with this information, the
coordinator will determine suitable species options for each site and provide
one or two recommended native species to each customer. In cases where lot
size is too small to accommodate a tree, the coordinator will suggest several
native shrubs. The coordinator will be responsible for sourcing and ordering
the stock. All of this information will be tracked and recorded in a
comprehensive data base.

The coordinator will set up and
deliver one or two public tree planting workshops for customers to distribute
trees and demonstrate proper ways to plant, water and mulch, as well as
answer any questions.

The coordinator will be responsible
for conducting follow-up site visits to ensure trees were well-planted,
record GPS locates for each tree and submit to the Township for their GIS
urban forest data base. 

For the duration of the
project, the coordinator will market the program using our website, social
media accounts and traditional media channels.

During late
fall and early winter, the coordinator will prepare a detailed “How-To”
manual that will include lessons they learned and helpful anecdotal stories.
This may be developed into a video
tutorial.

Pay: This is a
contract position funded in part by EcoCanada
$18-$20/hr.

Requirements: You
must have an undergraduate degree and be under the age of 31. You will need a
strong knowledge of native tree and shrub species and how to plant them,
excellent customer service skills and the ability to work in an NGO
environment, where problem solving skills, self-direction, and an eagerness
to learn are vital. As well, we need a team member who can has experience
with Excel, Word Press and social media
platforms.

Please send resume to:
neighbourwoods@eloraenvironmentcentre

If you are curious to learn more
about the history, biology and folklore of some of our community’s
celebrated trees, you will be interested to hear that Neighbourwoods has
produced an online
interactive tool that you can access on your laptop, desktop and
mobile phone.

This new hands-on Story Map was inspired by
lastyear’s Tour the Trees event, where cyclist Rick Goodfellow lead local
peddlersaround the community to learn about notable trees and sites. Now,
regardless ofwhether you are cycling, walking, or simply sitting in your own
home, you can experiencethe tour for yourself, fit with stories, pictures,
and video content about eachtree.

From mid-Julyuntil late
August, all the trees on the map will be identified by a laminatedsign with a
QR code.  Those with the QRapp on their phone will be one quick scan
away from accessing everything youneed to know about each
tree.

Neighbourwoods isgrateful to Greg Wolowich, GIS
Planning Coordinator for the Township for histech support and to the Township
for their funding under the Community ImpactGrant program.

For
moreinformation about the story map please visit eloraenvironmentcentre.ca,
andfollow us at @eloraenvironmentcentre on Facebook and Instagram.

To access thestory map, visit:  https://qrgo.page.link/Dsma1