Gates supports NPCA’s one million trees initiative

With a million trees to plant within the next three to six years, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority needs all the help it can get.

The agency announced Monday that Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates has pledged his full support in moving the initiative forward, approved in principle by NPCA’s board of directors as part of its commitment to working with people who live within Niagara’s watershed areas. “We stated many times that these initiatives are huge and they’re going to require the participation of everybody in the watershed,” said NPCA communications specialist Krystle Caputo. “It’s our hope that all levels of government will step up and lead by example.”

In a media release issued, Monday, NPCA chief administrative officer Mark Brickell said he’s hoping other upper-tier government representatives follow Gates’ lead. “We are looking forward to the rest of Niagara’s MPPs acknowledging the significance and importance of this undertaking,” he said.

Calling it an “ambitious goal,” NPCA chairman Sandy Annunziata said the support of elected officials “recognizing the significance of these bold plans sends a strong message to our community partners.” Caputo said NPCA has yet to associate a cost with initiatives such a planting one million trees that form part of its long-term vision. “They’re high-level initiatives that we want to build out with people,” she said.