Canada/Planting trees to get closer to environmental goals in Sherbrooke

Just a few days after adopting its tree and greening policy, the City of Sherbrooke took action with the planting of 500 trees in Belvedere Park. A few dozen volunteers answered the organizers' call.

Among all the volunteers, the Hoareau-Côté family took part in the tree-planting.

It's an experience for the kids, a new forest that will develop in the neighborhood that we can visit together in the future," enthuses Jonathan Côté.

We need to teach them that we all have a role to play in preserving nature," adds his partner, Julie Hoareau. The couple is surrounded by their children.

This was a concrete action to mark the adoption of the tree and greening policy. The policy aims to reduce heat islands and the impacts of climate change.

It is also working to implement the 3-30-300 measure, i.e. three trees within sight, 30% of space covered by trees and access to a cool island or woodland within 300 metres of home.

We want to plant 10,000 trees in five years and demineralize 200 parking spaces," points out Joanie Bellerose, president of the Commission de l'embellissement.

The city is also considering charging a fee when woodlands are cut on its territory, in addition to fines for cutting without its permission.

There are already some, but they're not high enough to have an impact on action, we want to change behavior. We'll see how we can increase the number, and we need more inspectors," says Ms. Bellerose.

Arbre-Évolution, through its social reforestation program, is overseeing the planting in Sherbrooke.

It's a lot for one day of planting, but for our program, it's not that much. We plant 20,000 [trees] or more a year as part of this program. You could say it's a drop in the ocean," explains project manager Julien Hamelin-Lalonde.

In 10, 15-20 years, we should have a small forest here.

A quote from Julien Hamelin-Lalonde, Project Manager, Arbre-Évolution

Even if Sherbrooke is recognized as a city with a lot of trees, we can still do better, believes the beautification commission.

We can really be proud. There's a great sense of belonging to trees in Sherbrooke. Our canopy index in Sherbrooke is 42% in urban areas. When you compare it to other municipalities, it's really exceptional, and we want to continue to maintain it and even improve it," points out Daniel Blouin, Environmental Project Officer at the City of Sherbrooke.

The canopy index indicates, as a percentage, the area of a given territory that is covered by trees.

Heat islands are still numerous. They are found along major highways, downtown and in certain areas of Fleurimont, where there is a lack of trees.

Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/