tree planting

Two environmental projects in Saint John have gotten a boost thanks to a national charity.

Working with Trees for Life, ACAP Saint John has planted two mini-forests.

ACAP executive director Roxanne MacKinnon said the collaboration grew out of an existing relationship with Green Communities Canada.

“That kind of brought together our two mini-forest projects that we’ve been working on this fall as well as some other projects that we did earlier in the summer,” said MacKinnon.

“So together, we’re trying to improve some of our green spaces, bring in a little bit more natural biodiversity and create these really unique ecosystems for wildlife and people.”

MacKinnon said the mini-forests are a technique used in urban areas.

“It is basically a very dense planting of native trees,” she said, adding packing everything in helps them grow a little bit faster.

MacKinnon says Trees for Life helps with financial and material support for these types of projects.

“They covered some of the cost of the trees and all the maintenance things that go into planting trees and all of that,” she said. “To make sure that these projects can happen and that we can get the volume of materials that we need in these places to make it a truly thriving planting.”

Trees for Life executive director Marina Dimitriadis said the charity’s participation in a project may be driven by a donor who’d like to see more trees in their area, or it could be a project partner reaching out.

“We partner with municipalities, other environmental non-profits, some conservation groups, land trusts,” Dimitriadis said. “Pretty much anyone that is interested that aligns with our mission of planting trees where we live, work and play.”