The Outaouais Environmental Campus and Tree Canada celebrates planting of 20,000 native trees with unveiling of monumental sculpture

September 10, 2021 (Wakefield, QC) — Today, Tree Canada joins the Outaouais Environmental Campus (Eco Echo) in welcoming “land artist” Marc Walter’s monumental sculpture titled “La Grande Nourricière” at Minnes Farm, in Wakefield, Quebec.

Its creation is supported by the Cultural Development Fund of the Municipalité régionale de comté des Collines-de-l’Outaouais (MRC) and Desjardins Caisse de Hull-Aylmer. The sculpture, created by volunteers from La Pêche Global Forest, a local tree planting organization, acknowledges the importance of a healthy ecosystem for a healthy community.

Tree Canada—the only national non-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in rural and urban environments—is being acknowledged for its leadership in funding the planting of 20,000 native trees on 20 acres at Minnes Farm in 2020. This project, in partnership with AFPO (l’Agence des forêts privées de l’Outaouais) and Les Conseillers forestiers de l’Outaouais, will increase forest cover in the region that will benefit the local ecosystems by providing wildlife habitat, reducing flooding risk and peak flows by retaining water and snow in spring. Over time, this forest will sequester and store carbon dioxide and help in the fight against climate change.

Tree Canada’s acknowledgement and the sculpture’s unveiling honors an outpouring of generosity from the community to raise $1.5 million by December 31 to preserve an environmentally significant Hundred Acre Wood in an ecological corridor to Gatineau Park.

These environmental projects have set a new standard for community engagement and demonstrate what’s possible when community members come together to ensure natural assets remain accessible for the generations that follow.

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About Outaouais Environmental Campus
Since 2008, Eco Echo has provided an outdoor learning centre offering educational opportunities, and workshops to encourage protection of the natural habitat while inspiring sustainable living practices. Located at the Minnes Farm, south of Wakefield, Quebec, a local initiative is underway to ensure the permanent protection of 100 aces of forest and meadow, known as the Hundred Acre Wood, facilitated by ACRE Chelsea.
EcoEcho.ca

About Tree Canada
Tree Canada is the only national non-profit organization dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in rural and urban environments. Through our programs, research and engagement efforts, we have helped restore tree cover in areas hit by natural disasters, guided communities in managing their urban forests, supported over 700 schoolyard greening projects and organized urban forest conferences. To date, with our community partners and sponsors, we have planted more than 83 million trees.
Treecanada.ca

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