Perth County grants over $56,500 to 20 landowners and communities for 2025 tree-planting projects

From a total budget of $100,000 for the program this year, Perth County will allocate a combined $56,537 to 20 landowners, communities and organizations through the spring intake of the 2025 Perth County Stewardship Program for local tree-planting projects.

At the Feb. 6 Perth County council meeting, councillors voted to approve all 20 applications for funding. The stewardship program is divided into three funding streams. The landowner stream offers 50 per cent of project costs up to $3,000 to landowners planting 50 or more trees; the community stream offers a maximum of 100 per cent of project costs up to $5,000 to non-profit groups, municipalities, or conservation authorities planting trees or conducting tree-distribution programs in the county; and the woodland stream offers a maximum grant of 75 per cent of project costs up to $750 to landowners completing a 10-year forest-management plan.

Of the 20 applications approved by council, 12 were made to the landowner stream with a total of just over $30,000 in requested funds, seven were made to the community stream with a total of just over $25,700 in requested funds and one was made to the woodland stream with a total of $750 in requested funds. Nine applications came in from West Perth, five from North Perth, four from Perth East and two from Perth South.

“These projects will complete one forest-management plan and plant 3,592 trees and shrubs encompassing 28 native species,” said county resiliency and stewardship coordinator Hannah Cann. “The applications … would add 6.99 kilometres of windbreak and 16.35 acres of natural assets in Perth County.”

Along with the recommendation to approve the applications to the program, the county’s agricultural working group also recommended that council uses the balance of the funds for the program in this year’s budget, roughly $43,460, to offer further funding to landowners during a fall intake for the program later this year. Some county councillors, however, asked whether the remaining funds could instead be directed back into the overall county budget to support county projects such as the establishment of roadside windbreaks to combat the dangers of blowing snow on county roads.

“I’d like to know where this fall stream comes from,” Coun. Rhonda Ehgoetz said. “ … That’s not something that I thought council was doing or this committee was doing. Also, I would like to see us put that money towards windbreaks on our roads. We’ve had an awful lot of complaints if you watch Facebook and take it with a grain of salt. There are people that are saying in one county they have trees along their road and it’s stopping the snow, and yet in Perth County we don’t seem to have that.

“I don’t know what the urgency is to spend this money and if people don’t want it, then we should put it back into our budget. We have other things, but if we really want to spend it, I say we put trees along our roads.”

In response, deputy warden Dean Trentowsky, who serves as chair of the agricultural working group, noted the advisory committee had always intended for the program to have two intake periods – one in the spring and another in the fall. The only reason there was just one intake period last year was because the program’s budget was allocated fully during the 2024 spring intake.

“The 2025 year is different in that an additional $25,000 was allocated to the program and not all the funds available were taken up in the spring intake,” he said. “It’s still a very good program for private landowners to engage in given the nature of the decline in the forestry health in terms of … the ash trees. There’s still a need for the private landowners to engage in this program and it’s still a popular program.”

Returning to Ehgoetz’s point about the need for natural windbreaks along county roads, Coun. Sue Orr asked if there was any way to incentivize private landowners to plant trees that could act as windbreaks for drivers on county roads once mature, to which Cann said staff is in the process of identifying new funding streams for the program, one of which could provide funding for “living snow fences.”

“It was always the intention of the county stewardship program to add new streams as more money was allocated year over year,” Cann said. “Living snow fences is a stream that we are looking at adding as one to highlight for landowners. Unfortunately, living snow fences are amazing, but you have to have the buy-in of the landowners whose land is adjacent to the roads. Being able to support landowners who are wanting windbreaks and living snow fences on their own accord is a really great initiative to do for this program to start. We are in the process of also identifying priority areas for living snow fences in the county.”

In response to a follow-up question from Ehgoetz about why the county can’t just plant living snow fences and windbreaks on the public road allowance, Cann said they need to be planted a certain distance away from the roadway, often on private property, to be effective.

Trentowsky also noted funding for the protection of saplings and seedlings once they’re planted may also be included as part of the stewardship program as early as this fall – something the agricultural working group had determined there is a need for going forward.