Realizing Expectations from Planting Trees on Private Land in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

This study explores the motivations behind participation in tree planting programs by private landowners in Ontario, Canada, as well as perceptions as to whether benefits were realized up to ten years after trees were planted. Forests Ontario, which has offered tree planting support programs in this province since 2007, provides up to 90% of the cost of seedlings for tree planting projects at least one hectare (ha) in size. This online survey of 570 former participants in tree planting programs indicated that a desire to create a habitat for wildlife (77.6%) was the most common motivation for taking part in a tree planting program. Concern with restoring native forest cover was also a reason for most participants (71.4%), as well as with improving soil, air and water quality (54.8%), and addressing climate change (54.3%). The most common benefit of planting trees was an increase in well-being and enjoyment of their property (67% of respondents). Overall, 27% of respondents with a desire to increase wildlife habitat, and 20% of those wishing to improve their local environment reported an improvement after tree planting. Reported improvements in the local environment and wildlife increased with time since tree planting, whereas enhanced well-being and enjoyment of the property were evident among participants even with newly planted trees.

Pathways to sustainable land use and food systems in Canada

“…Also, developing a national afforestation program, as the Bonn Challenge has recommended, would be a good complement for a higher protection of Canadian ecoregions. Some initiatives, like the Caribou Habitat Restoration Project, Afforestation Ontario, and the National Greening Program, are already promoting afforestation on private and public lands as a way to recover ecosystem services (Government of Ontario 2017 ; Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation 2020 ; MacDonald et al 2020 ; Mansuy et al 2020 ).…”

Fifteen years of Landscape Online: Looking back at the development of an e-journal

“…In contrast to these new topics, the topic around ecosystem services becomes less significant, although a number of publications are regularly published in the LSI (Augstburger et al, 2018;Kokthi et al, 2021;Scolozzi et al, 2019;Wübbelmann et al, 2021;Zelený et al, 2020). Furthermore, a range of articles continues to focus on landscape structure and dynamics (Belda-Carrasco et al, 2019;Cieślak and Biłozor, 2022;Dekaraja and Mahanta, 2022;Flores et al, 2019;Giné, 2018;Istanbuly et al, 2022;Khoroshev, 2019;Oppermann et al, 2021;Schmalz and Kruse, 2019;Silva et al, 2020;Stoicescu et al, 2019), landscape vegetation and ecosystems (Botti, 2019;Carlier and Moran, 2019;Mustafa et al, 2018;Ojeda, 2018), landscape management (Buendía et al, 2021;Hanberry, 2022;MacDonald et al, 2020;Raatikainen, 2018;Siagian et al, 2022), and conceptual ideas in the field of landscape ecology (Helm and Buchroithner, 2018). In addition, articles address archaeological and sacred landscapes (Długozima, 2020;Puzdrakiewicz, 2020;Żemła-Siesicka, 2022), and landscape perception (Khaledi et al, 2022;Mazzocchi et al, 2019;Rodríguez Romero et al, 2019;Serrano-Montes et al, 2019).…”