A tree to honour every hero
Dedicated volunteers plant native species trees along the Highway of Heroes in Cobourg.
How do you create a memorable, transformational experience for drivers and passengers on North America’s busiest highway: Highway 401?
The answer is to create a forest within view of the vehicles’ windows.
And not just any forest, but a memorial forest. One that acknowledges the more than 117,000 Canadian souls lost during times of war since 1812.
A forest designed by a team of professional landscape architects who have focused their creative energies on one word: inspiration.
Most every reader of this column has travelled along the Highway of Heroes, on Highway 401, at one time or another. It is not likely that you can come up with one outstanding memory of the experience, based on the highway itself. There is nothing much to break the travel experience on the original Highway of Heroes — other than a washroom break at ONRoute, of which there are three.
But the volunteers at the Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign have another idea about that: the trees being planted on the Highway 401 right-of-way that will grow and mature into something spectacular. This group is the only one with authority to plant on the highway, other than the provincial Transportation Ministry.
We have been at this job for almost four years and are well on our way to success. Of the $10 million needed to pay for planting, 77 per cent of that money has been raised.
More than 30 per cent of trees have been planted and all are native species. Each planted section has been designated with trees that will grow and thrive in the hostile environment of the highway. Salt, wind, “soil” that is soilless and in desperate need of remediation are all factors that are considered before planting can get started.
Here in Toronto, we have planted more than 20,000 trees at Meadowvale and Neilson Roads.
The area where Keele Street intersects with Highway 401 — the end of the Highway of Heroes — is enhanced with a mixed planting of perennials, shrubs and, of course, many trees as a gateway to the section of highway. Where to from here? Our plan to reforest the Highway of Heroes has a new challenge: land. In addition to the rightof-way planting, we are planting up to 1.8 million more trees off the highway, within a 15kilometre corridor. One tree for each Canadian who volunteered for military service during times of war. We have access to the trees through our partners at Forests Ontario, Landscape Ontario and conservation authorities.
We have learned to plant efficiently and with 97 per cent success.
What we desperately need is co-operation from private landowners who are willing to have their properties planted with young tree seedlings.
The Highway of Heroes represents a 170-kilometre stretch of asphalt. Tree planting on either side of it, even 15 kilometres away, will help to reduce road noise and replace exhaust pipe emissions with pure, tree-produced oxygen.
If you can help or know someone who can, please contact us at hohtribute.ca. Last lap of fundraising: In the meantime, we still need $2.3 million to get the job done.
Today, we launch our Remembrance Campaign, leading up to Remembrance Day on Nov. 11. A generous anonymous donor has offered to match all cash donations up to a total of $100,000. Log on today and donate.
You will receive a tax-deductible receipt, and our private donor will match yours. That counts as two thank-yous to the thousands of people in the Canadian Armed Forces who made the commitment to protect our freedom. A few answers for FAQs: á One tree costs $150. á You can have a tree planted in the name of someone you wish to acknowledge and remember on the Scroll of Honour at hohtribute.ca. á All trees are native. á You will find all of our public tree-planting events listed on the website.
á Our thanks to you and more than 3,500 Canadians who have helped to make this miracle of nature happen.