County of Simcoe forest receives national recognition

Springwater Township, Ont. -

Simcoe County was named the Forest Capital of Canada for 2022.

"It's a massive achievement, and we wanted to celebrate with them on their 100th anniversary," said President of the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF), Richard Dominy.

County forester Graeme Davis said trees in the Simcoe County forest were planted in the early 1920s as part of a tree-planting agreement between the county and the province.

The county is the largest municipality-owned forest in Ontario.

"One of the reasons why Simcoe County was first off the mark was because the premier of the day was premier Drury in the early 20s, and the Drury family is still farming in the area, and he understands the need for forest cover," Davis noted.

Still, Davis said the forest is more than its trees.

"You don't just find trees out of the air and plant them. You have to have infrastructure to gather seed to plant, the nursery and then plant the trees, and that infrastructure grew with our county forest."

Davis said the county is still reaping the benefits from that commitment a century ago, with over 20 million trees planted over that time.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Each year the CIF presents a number of awards in recognition of outstanding and unique accomplishments to forestry in Canada.

The CIF is the national voice of forest practitioners and was first established in 1908.

The county is the first to win the prestigious national award twice.

In a release, Dominy stated, "The County is very deserving of this award, and we look forward to seeing their celebrations and activities unfold over the next year showcasing their connectivity to the forest."

National Forest week runs from Sept. 19 to 25.

The Simcoe County forests have more than 33,000 acres.

The Warden, Deputy Warden and forestry staff were on hand for the presentation.