Tree Planting Project, Mary Ann Fall Road (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia)

This past month (November 2024), Replant.ca Environmental finished up a small environmental restoration project in Cape Breton, near Ingonish.

This project took place on the east side of Cape Breton Island, just around the corner to the north of the Broad Cove Campground.  There used to be a rough gravel truck road that led up to the bridge by the Falls, but the Park has been using contractors to turn the area into a recreational trail for bikers and hikers.  The goal was to restore the old road to a more natural state, for the purpose of environmental restoration, and at the same time to provide additional public opportunities for outdoor recreation.  Our role in this project was to be a service provider, planting trees off to either side of the special compacted bike trail going up to the Fall.  Parks Canada was the organization that planned and sponsored this project.

 

Here's a graphic (courtesy of Google Earth) showing the location of the new bike trail, which is almost seven kilometers in length:

 

This trail falls within the confines of Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  We also did a separate larger project within the Park this year (on North Mountain), and another small project on the Skyline Trail.

Here are a few photos of the seedlings and of the team in action at Mary Ann Falls Road:

 

 

 

 

 

We planted a variety of species in the reclaimed sections beside the new bike trail:  Sugar maple, eastern white pine, eastern larch, white birch, black spruce, green alder, and balsam fir.

 

You can see more photos of our tree planting work at this site by visiting our Planting Photos folder on Dropbox, then going into the "2024 Planting Photos" folder, then into the "Mary Ann Falls" sub-folder.  Start here:

    www.replant-environmental.ca/photos

 

We'd like to thank Anne-Claude and her staff for their hospitality and support while we were on site, and to Parks Canada for putting together this proactive project.  It's a really enjoyable area to hike or bike!

Jonathan "Scooter" Clark

www.replant-environmental.ca

Replant.ca Environmental is a Canadian company that plants trees for carbon capture and builds community forests.  We also plant trees in national, provincial, and municipal public parks to mitigate damage from wildfires, storms, insects, and forest diseases.  We operate thanks to numerous small contributions from the general public, in addition to larger project sponsorships from businesses, corporations, and NGO's around the world.  If you'd like to learn how to show your support, visit our donations page.  Even if you aren't able to make a contribution, we very much appreciate when people are able to share our posts or our website link on social media, to help spread the word about the work that we're doing!

To learn more about the various species that we plant, visit the conifers page or the deciduous (hardwoods) page on our website.  Thanks so much for your interest! 

 

Calling on Artists for a Music Compilation of Tree Planting Songs

There are a lot of great songs about tree planting, written by various talented Canadian planters.  I'd like to see some of those shared to a wider audience, therefore, I'm going to use Replant.ca Environmental to sponsor the production of a compilation of songs about tree planting, by tree planters.

Edit:  This compilation is now complete.  It was very well received, and we'll be publishing another volume in 2024.  Please contact us if you're interested in participating, but in the meantime, here's a link to the 2020 compilation:

The Flagging Tapes, Vol. 1

Back to the original post ...

I'm aware of two previous planting music compilations:  "Planters' Punch" and "Hi & Ho, We Plant Trees."  You can find both of these by going to my public Dropbox folder at replant.ca/dropbox and then going into the "Canadian Reforestation" sub-folder, then into the "Planting Music" sub-folder.  All of the songs from these compilations have been shared publicly with permission of the organizers of the CD's (Michael & Peter).

Planters' Punch was compiled by Michael Mloszewski.  Click on his name to learn more background about Michael.  This compilation was put together in the late 1990's, if my information is correct.  Although all the songs were written or performed by planters, some don't actually have planting as the theme to the lyrics.

Hi & Ho, We Plant Trees was organized and compiled by Peter Krahn, who is still a very active member of our planting community.  I believe that this double album may have been released around 2005?  All of the songs on this album have planting as the central theme.  I've heard many of these songs when getting into crew trucks at various companies.

Anyway, it's time for a new album.  I've already been contacted by more than half a dozen planters who want to contribute songs to the album.  Artists will have to agree to have their songs published (internet) for free downloading.  None of the music will be sold, and no physical CD's will be produced.  There will be an independent panel of judges who review all submissions, to ensure that they meet a certain minimal level of quality.  Artists will be encouraged to register their songs with SOCAN in order to qualify for any potential public broadcast royalties.

This compilation will be made available at no cost to the planting community.

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Edit, February 2020:  This album is now available as a free download!  Visit:

www.replant.ca/theflaggingtapes

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Artists who are in the central Maritime provinces can have their tracks recorded for this compilation at my own studio (no cost), if they'd like.  I'll be located in Sackville, New Brunswick.  I'll be able to do recording sessions between mid-December and mid-January.  For anyone who is located too far away for this, you'll have to find a way to get a professional-sounding recording done on your own, at your own expense.  Home studio recordings are fine, as long as they sound good.  Once the songs are collected, I'll get the collection mastered properly.  That process will start around January 20th, 2020, so ideally all tracks need to be submitted by about January 15th.

If anyone else is interested in contributing to this project, please email me at jonathan.scooter.clark@gmail.com and give me a bit of information about your music.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to release this compilation by mid-February at the latest, before my spring coastal season starts.

Thanks for your interest, and please share this with other planter-musicians.

- Scooter
www.replant-environmental.ca

Incidentally, our organization is often seeking additional land for our carbon capture projects.  Please visit this link if you might know of a recently-harvested property that we could rebuild into a permanent legacy forest.