Making the case for more Freedom Trees
Here’s a natural way to honour Canada’s veterans
This past June I had the distinct privilege of attending the DDay ceremonies on Juno Beach in Normandy, France. I attended as a “caregiver” of my 94-year-old friend Hugh Beatty, a Canadian veteran of the D-Day landings. It was a moving experience, to say the least.
While there, I could not help but notice that the French have made extraordinary efforts to maintain, in pristine condition, the burial grounds of Canada’s war dead. Perennials have been planted at the foot of each headstone, in precise sequence: creating a rhythm of flowering plants that unifies the row upon row of permanent records of each soldier buried there. Trees are planted around the grounds and carefully peppered within the cemetery itself, creating a quiet and contemplative environment. Nothing much is heard here other than the breeze blowing through them and, as John McCrae so eloquently put it in his poem In Flanders Fields, “The larks still bravely singing ...”
Hugh and I have spent many hours contemplating the lessons of his war experience, without drawing specific conclusions. The discussion has, for me, been illuminating and provoking in the extreme. Now in my mid-50s, I am hearing first-hand stories of the war experience from a man who was there 70 years ago. We often talk about the more recent Canadian war in Afghanistan, where more than 150 of our own were lost. Hold that thought while I share a wonderful story with you.
FROM AIRPORT ROAD TO VETERANS HIGHWAY
In London, Ont., an exciting tribute to those who made the supreme sacrifice for Canada is underway. The road that leads directly to the London International Airport (Airport Road) was recently renamed the Veterans Memorial Parkway. As part of this expansive project, more than 600 large trees will be planted and 400 have already gone in the ground.
Most have been donated by members of the industry through our association, Landscape Ontario, and planted by volunteers.
The money raised to support the project started as a simple penny drive at the local Parkwood Hospital in the veterans wing, where 158,320 pennies were collected by staff, patients, families and friends. From there it grew, with many corporate and private donors jumping on board as the significance of the planting became known to the citizens of London.
According to Barry Sandler, who is the driving force behind this ambitious project, the plan calls for 20 commemorative features: a combination of engraved natural stone and trees. Designed by landscape architect Ron Koudys, the 10-kilometre-long highway features eight “guards” — oversized natural stones engraved with the words Gateway, Valour, Courage, Freedom, Fortitude and Allegiance. The plan calls for 12 more similar stone tributes. Each four-metre-high stone is linked with the next one using trees. The idea is to include a mix of tree plantings and stone commemorative features to create a “driving experience” and to cause motorists to think about the values of public service in the Canadian Armed Forces.
A TRIBUTE TO OUR ARMED FORCES
Barry states: “None of the features are dedicated to particular regiments, battles or campaigns. Rather, they feature one or two words that are meant to stir the passersby.”
Tree-planting projects utilize a variety of species chosen for shape and colour, but primarily for survivability in a harsh highway environment. The trees average five to six centimetres in diameter and as such require heavy equipment and expert assistance in the planting process. Community volunteers complete the process: back-filling, staking and mulching the trees.
At a recent tree-planting activity day, Denis Flanagan, membership co-ordinator at Landscape Ontario, was so impressed he said to me, “I have never attended a public treeplanting event that was so well organized and executed.” He has attended more than a few in his time. Of extreme importance, followup tree maintenance and watering over the next few years has been planned.
Two years ago, an agreement between Landscape Ontario and the City of London was formalized and the funds were raised for the massive tree-planting project. It was the first time that city had relinquished direct control of a tree-planting project on city-owned property.
The new methodology has worked so well that several hundred more trees have been planned for.
LET’S TALK MONEY
Naturally the question of who pays for all of this is a critical one. In London, for every $10 spent implementing the Veterans Memorial Parkway program, approximately $3 is invested by the city.
The contribution includes both direct dollars for administrative support, funding for trees, indirect costs for plans, permits, signage and the consideration of overhead expenses.
The other $7 is raised from private and corporate donors, much of it donated in kind.
The underlying principle is to utilize a portion of the city’s treeplanting budget to plant three to four times as many trees as the city could on its own.
This arrangement is the ultimate synergistic relationship: a privatepublic partnership in which all parties win.
I am inspired by it. We should all be inspired by it.
Given the London model, what can be done to enhance the meaning of the Highway of Heroes that runs from Trenton to Toronto? Would tree planting on a massive scale along this desolate stretch of high-speed highway not pay a fitting tribute to those whose lives have been taken in the name of freedom?
As we are in the Remembrance time of year and we slow down to contemplate the meaning of it all, I urge you to think about this.
I personally pledge to help however I can to make it happen. After all, we need more trees and we need to be reminded that travelling our freeways is only free because of tremendous sacrifice made by others.
If you have some thoughts you would like to share, I suggest you put them on a wall where all can see them.
Let’s have a discussion about how this can happen and take it from there. Is a Hwy. 401 tree-planting an appropriate tribute to our Armed Forces? If so, how can we get shovels in the ground?
What can you do to help make this happen? Go to my Facebook page to share your ideas.
For me, I owe my friend Hugh a huge favour. Perhaps this can be part of it.
For details about the London Veterans Memorial Parkway, go to treesfortheparkway.ca/plan.