The European practice of hedgerows and hedge laying is slowly entering Ontario’s landscape. During a recent Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario webinar, Jim Jones, a British ecologist and hedge laying expert, explained how a managed hedgerow can fulfil several roles within agriculture. Why it matters: Managed North American hedgerows could provide a biodiversity and ecological […] Read more
Tag Archives trees
Hedgerows enjoy potential new growth in Ontario
Living fence lines offer a plethora of biodiversity and ecological positives
How mixing farms with forests can help nations reach net zero
Planting trees on working farms can curb emissions, boost income but money and time are barriers
Thomson Reuters Foundation – Stephen Briggs popped open his pocket knife, carved a wedge from a small pink and green apple and took a bite. “Those are ready,” he said, looking at a nearby apple tree, one of 4,500 planted in neat rows through wheat fields on his farm near Peterborough, in eastern England. The […] Read more
Reviving the forest — with agriculture as part of the mix
Silvopasture can provide forage for grazing animals, while managing and building woodlots
It’s best to ease your way into using woodlots to pasture livestock — by working to transform edge-of-field hedgerows or planting trees in marginal areas no longer used for cropping. For those working to create “silvopasture” the ultimate goal is a diversity of landscapes on the farm that more accurately mimics the natural world. Steve […] Read more
Farmers push back against Chatham clear-cut bylaw
Municipality says council intended to prevent aggressive cutting as wider environmental policy changes are discussed
A Chatham-Kent bylaw banning the clear-cutting of woodlots and woodlands has generated frustration and feelings of exclusion in policy development among some Chatham farmers. Passed by municipal council on April 26, the temporary, 120-day bylaw pertains to wooded landscapes more than half an acre in size, and a specified density of trees. It comes as […] Read more
Tree planting emerges from COVID into hot, dry spring
Additional threat of gypsy moth has foresters on edge as tree planting booms
Administrators of many tree-planting efforts across Ontario are striving in 2021 to make up for ground lost during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, they now face a perfect storm of dry weather and widespread gypsy moth infestations. Why it matters: Tree-planting for such purposes as windbreaks, shelterbelts and buffer strips […] Read more
Two forest stewardship organizations to merge
OWA and EOMF already share Kemptville headquarters
With two top staff members set to depart from the Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF) to focus more on their own businesses, the organization will come under the wing of the Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) – with which it already shares an administrative office and resource person in Kemptville. OWA executive director John Pineau is […] Read more
Density, not diversity key to northern forest carbon sequestration
Science Notes: Forests can play a crucial role in mitigating climate change
An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has found that carbon sequestration is best in forests in cold and dry regions with an abundance of trees, not diversity of species. Inventory data from natural forests on five continents show that species diversity is optimal for equatorial and tropical rainforests, and that, conversely, […] Read more
Resistant trees found to resist ash borer
Science Notes: Gene editing could place resistance genes into ash species currently affected by EAB
An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide. In the new study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, […] Read more
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