Plant trees with NVCA's forestry program
In the early 1900s, as settlers established communities in the Nottawasaga Watershed, they started to clear land for farming, but the topsoil quickly eroded and sand underneath was exposed. Between the 1960s and early 1990s, the Province of Ontario planted millions of trees to restore our forests. Fast forward to today, NVCA is the only organization in the watershed that offers professional tree planting services.
Each year, NVCA's forestry program plants around 100,000 trees for property owners in the Nottawasaga Watershed who want to convert their land into forests.
What is NVCA's Forestry Program
How does the tree planting program work?
If you're interested planting a forest with NVCA, the first step is to determine if your property is within the Nottawasaga Watershed, and if have 2 to 2.5 acres of planting space. Visit our
Interactive Data Viewer to see if your property is in our watershed.
Meet these criteria? Then it's time to contact
NVCA's Manager of Forestry, Rick Grillmayer. He will walk you through the entire tree planting process, funding structure and more.
Still want to continue with your tree planting project with NVCA? Rick will schedule a free site visit to determine the suitability of your site, and if everything goes well, you will be scheduled into a tree plant!
After the tree planting is complete, NVCA will do site inspections in Year 1, 2 and 5 to determine the viability of your forest.
How much does tree planting cost?
Site assessments are always free of charge. NVCA may be able to over 25% - 95% of tree planting projects. The minimum order is 1,500 trees, which generally requires 2.5 acres of land. The cost per tree planted varies considerably, but generally falls in the range of $0.20 to $2.50 per tree. Please contact our Manager of Forestry, Rick Grillmayer for more details.
Site Visits
NVCA will schedule a site visit between June – November to determine the suitability of your property. To ensure the success of your tree plant, here are some of the things we look for:
- Topography - to determine we can use our tree planting machine, or if hand planting is required
- Deer browsing – Deer love to munch on young deciduous trees. The amount of deer browsing determines the tree species that can be planted on your property.
- Soils – the texture, pH and draining determines the type of trees that can be planted on your property
How are the trees planted?
NVCA uses a combination of machine planting and hand planting. Rick explains why in the video below.
What species of trees do we plant?
The majority of the trees planted are conifer (evergreen) trees. Find out why in the video below!
Your trees are planted, now what?
NVCA's tree planting program monitors your newly planted forest in the fall of years one, two and five. Find out how it's done in the video below.
Some landowners may qualify for a tax break through the Managed Forest Incentive Program.
Visit this website for more information.
Arbor Day Tree Sale
If your property does not meet our program criteria, don't fret! Each year on the second Saturday of May, NVCA hosts our annual Arbour Day Tree Sale. Trees are bare root stock, and are sold in bundles of 10. Click here for more information the Arbour Day Tree Sale
All proceeds from the sales support NVCA's forestry program.
Contact Us
For more information on NVCA forestry programs, please email
Rick Grillmayer, Manager of Forestry, at 705-424-1479 ext. 230.
