Tree Canada seeks support for tree planting after Ottawa-Gatineau tornadoes

Ottawa, ON (November 13, 2018) – Tree Canada, Canada’s leading national tree planting charity, today announced it is launching an ambitious greening initiative for residents in the Ottawa-Gatineau area to replace trees lost to the devasting tornadoes.

On Friday, September 21, 2018, tornadoes touched down in the Ottawa-Gatineau area with the most devastating reaching speeds of 265 km/h. The scope of the damage was vast, with over 1,000 properties either demolished or damaged, leaving over 200,000 without power.

Tree Canada’s #OperationReLeaf  initiative is working in cooperation with the City of Ottawa and the Ville de Gatineau to provide funding to homeowners, private landowners and institutions to replace as many of the trees lost as possible. To achieve this goal, the national organization is encouraging individuals and members of the business community to provide their support by visiting #OperationReLeaf – Ottawa-Gatineau Tornadoes.

Quotes:

“As a member of the Ottawa-Gatineau community, we understand the devastating effects that this storm has had, and yet we marvel at how well the community has rebounded in re-building after this disaster. Throughout this process, Tree Canada will be working to help the affected neighbourhoods in Ottawa-Gatineau achieve the return to normalcy that only new trees can bring.”

– Michael Rosen, President of Tree Canada

About Tree Canada

Tree Canada is a non-profit charity dedicated to improving the lives of Canadians by planting and nurturing trees. Since 1992, we’ve planted more than 80 million trees, greened more than 600 schoolyards, helped restore places hit by natural disasters and brought together urban forestry experts greening cities all across Canada. Get involved or learn more about us at treecanada.ca.

About #OperationReLeaf

Tree Canada’s #OperationReLeaf programs have been helping communities recover from natural disasters and pests for more than 20 years. The first #OperationReLeaf was launched following the 1996 floods in Saguenay, Quebec. Tree Canada’s currently active #OperationReLeafs are focused on fighting Mountain Pine Beetle in Alberta, Emerald Ash Borer in Quebec and our ongoing multi-year efforts to restore community greenspaces hit by wildfires in Alberta and British Columbia.  In 2017, Tree Canada’s #OperationReLeaf Fort McMurray raised enough money to plant more than 70,000 trees, restoring greenspaces in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta.

More information:

Interested members of the business community wishing to contribute are encouraged to visit https://treecanada.ca/operationreleaf/ottawa-gatineau/.

Contact:

Carol Burnup
Acting Manager of Communications, Tree Canada
cburnup@treecanada.ca
613-567-5545 ext. 230