The Ontario government spending money to plant trees.
The Natural Resources and Forestry is handing $2.1 million to Forests Ontario, a leading charity prompting sustainable forest and grasslands to support tree planting through its projects and programs.
Forests Ontario said it has planted more than 41 million over 20,500 hectares of land across the province.
The announcement was made at Forests Ontario's Annual Conference in Alliston last week.
"We are proud to support Forests Ontario's mission to make our forests greener," Natural Resources Minister Graydon Smith said in a news release. "With this investment, our government is taking action to ensure the long-term sustainability of Ontario's forests and forest sector businesses, while creating stability for workers, families and communities that depend on this sector."
"Forests Ontario has developed unrivaled expertise and infrastructure to grow and track tree planting from seed to healthy forest and those forests will benefit communities across Ontario for generations to come,” said Forests Ontario CEO Rob Keen.
Forests Ontario said planting trees is the natural and best way to fight climate change. And there are economic benefits to be had. In the Ottawa Valley, 20 forest products mills in the area employ 2,200 people and generates more than $85 million in taxes.
“Private land tree planting contributes to significant employment levels in the Ottawa Valley," said Dean Felhaber, the president of Ben Hokum and Son Limited, a sawmill located between Barry’s Bay and Pembroke.
"Over 250 direct jobs in our sawmill and woodland operations are attributable to these plantations. Provincial government support of private land tree
