Tree Planting Project at Herring Cove Provincial Park, New Brunswick (2024)

Our organization did some tree planting work at Herring Cove Provincial Park this past September.  This work was funded entirely by the Forests Canada organization through their Forest Recovery Canada initiative as the Project Sponsor.

 

This provincial park is located in the very southwest corner of New Brunswick, on Campobello Island (which is northeast of Grand Manan Island).  From the United States, Herring Cove is only a six minute drive from the border bridge at Lubec Narrows.  From our home base in Canada, the route is slightly more complicated, involving two ferry crossings in each direction, first to Deer Island and then on to Campobello Island.  Here's an overview graphic, courtesy of Google Earth:

 

The approximate GPS coordinates at the park visitor centre are:  44.87716, -66.93423

Most of the planting for this particular project involved planting tree seedlings where the Park staff wanted to improve visual buffers between camping sites (with existing sporadic mature trees).  We also planted a few trees in some open areas that should be returned to forest land, and in parts of the understory where the canopy could use eventual thickening and diversity.  The afforestation and the underplanting with both be important for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation, and will provide additional habitat for birds and wildlife.  Basically, several goals aligned with the work that we carried out.  The following graphic shows the approximate locations for the new seedlings:

In total, our planting team added 13,443 trees to the Park this year!

Here are a few photos of the planting team in action:

 

  

 

 

 

 

This project went very smoothly.  We were able to complete the planned planting on all of the current-year targeted areas within this park.  We expect to return at some point in the near future to add more seedlings to additional areas.  Naturally, we will also be making regular visits back to monitor the long-term growth and health of the planted trees.

We'd like to thank the staff at NB Parks for helping with the logistical planning that ensured this project came together, and we again want to thank the Forests Canada organization for being the sponsor that made this work possible.

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 "Herring Cove Provincial Park" sub-folder.  Start here:

    www.replant-environmental.ca/photos

 

If you'd like to learn more about Herring Cove Provincial Park, visit their web page:

www.parcsnbparks.info/en/parks/6/herring-cove-provincial-park

Thanks for reading!

- Jonathan 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 and corporations 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!

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.

 

 

 

Tree Planting in Mactaquac Provincial Park, New Brunswick (2024)

This past Fall (2024), Replant.ca Environmental finished the third phase of our long-term tree planting project at Mactaquac Provincial Park.  The work that we did in 2024 was made possible by support from Forests Canada (formerly known as Forests Ontario), and their ongoing Forest Recovery Canada program.

Mactaquac Provincial Park is only a 30 minute drive from Fredericton, over to the west through either Keswick or French Village.  The park is situated on the St. John River, across from the Mactaquac Dam and power generating station.  This station generates one eighth of the electricity for the entire province of New Brunswick.

 

Here's a graphic (courtesy of Google Earth) showing the location of the park:

Mactaquac has a golf course, campground, two beaches, hiking trails, and [in the winter] it also has cross-country skiing trails.  The camping options are excellent, with around four hundred camping sites and several rustic cabins.  The washrooms and showers were extremely clean, and the entire project was a wonderful experience.  Here's a link for anyone who wants to make reservations:

www.parcsnbparks.info/en/parks/10/mactaquac-provincial-park

In 2014, the first named hurricane of the season was Hurricane Arthur.  It was a very early hurricane, hitting North America in early July.  It swept up the east coast and over the Maritime provinces.  The winds did a tremendous amount of damage to trees and infrastructure, especially in the Fredericton area.  Mactaquac was hit quite hard, and lost a lot of trees.  Our goal was to start the slow process of replanting some of the areas that had blown down during that storm several years earlier, and also to begin creating new wooded areas in other sections of the park.

We had already done work in this park in both 2021 and 2022. The green areas that can be seen in the image below are from those earlier phases.  This year, we were able to complete five more sections in May (outlined in red) and one more section in the September (outlined in blue), as can be seen here:

 

Most of the planting for this site involves planting tree seedlings in fairly open areas, where the Parks team is turning some of the under-utilized fields and openings into future mature stands of trees.  This latter goal is important for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation, and provides additional habitat for birds and wildlife.  It also allows the Park to better manage their budget for grounds maintenance (controlling the costs related to mowing the grass). There is also some underplanting at lower densities in some of the thinner sections of woods that are still recovering from the damage created by Hurricane Arthur.

Here are a few photos of the team in action at Mactaquac:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 "Mactaquac Provincial Park" sub-folder.  Start here:

    www.replant-environmental.ca/photos

 

We'd like to thank Kevin (the Park Manager) and Rob and their staff for their hospitality and support while we were on site.  We definitely look forward to returning in 2023 to continue the work that Forests Canada is making possible.

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 and corporations 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! 

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. 

 

 

Tree Planting Project in Cape Breton Highlands National Park (2024)

This past Fall (2024), Replant.ca Environmental was able to do more work on a long-term tree planting project in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  This work was part of a ongoing project on North Mountain that we're committed to for the next several years.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park (CBHNP) is located within the northern half of Cape Breton, which is the northeast end of the province of Nova Scotia.  If you're trying to drive there, it's about an four hour drive from Halifax.  North Mountain is located between Cheticamp and Cape North.

This multi-year project was designed and implemented under the direction of Nova Scotia's Clean Foundation, with financial assistance from the Province of Nova Scotia.

 

Here's a graphic (courtesy of Google Earth) showing the approximate location of our planting sites:

CBHNP is characterized predominantly by balsam fir and white spruce trees, with pockets of mountain ash (dogberry), tamarack (eastern larch), red maple, white birch, eastern white pine, and some other deciduous species.

Most of CBHNP consists of rolling hills covered with forests.  However, the Park also has a number of previously forested areas which were devastated by the spruce budworm a few decades ago, and which have failed to re-establish due to the large moose population. At the moment, the moose population is down quite a bit from historical averages, which presents an opportunity to re-establish more forest cover.

Here are a few photos of this year's team in action:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The work was quite challenging.  There was a lot of brush and vegetation to work through, and we had to climb over a lot of fallen tree trunks which were hidden in the vegetation.  Also, access is quite remote, requiring helicopters to get the crew and the trees into the planting sites each day.  This is quite tricky, because the weather is very unpredictable on North Mountain, and helicopters can't fly in fog or low clouds.

We were very pleased to act as a supply partner to the Clean Foundation on this project, doing the boots-on-the-ground tree planting work while they managed the project concept and provided financial backing and logistical support.

All in all, despite the challenges, this project was a very rewarding experience!

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 "Cape Breton Highlands National Park" sub-folder.  Start here:

    www.replant-environmental.ca/photos

 

We'd especially like to thank everyone for their hospitality and logistical support while we were on site.  Special shout-outs to Anne-Claude and Peter from Parks Canada, Cayla and Hannah from the Department of Natural Resources, Sean & Don from Strathlorne, and Beth and the other staff at Clean Foundation.

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 NGO's, businesses, and corporations 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!

 

Tree Planting in Gros Morne National Park (2023)

Edit:  You can see an updated post for similar (and more recent) work in 2024 at this link:

www.replant-environmental.blogspot.com/2024/11/tree-planting-project-in-gros-morne.html

 ---

 

This past Fall (2023), Replant.ca Environmental was able to assist with some tree planting work in Gros Morne National Park.  Gros Morne is located on the west coast of Newfoundland, near Rocky Harbour.  If you're trying to drive there, it's about an hour north of Corner Brook (or four hours of driving north of the ferry terminal in Port Aux Basques).

 

Here's a graphic (courtesy of Google Earth) showing the approximate location of our planting sites:

 

Gros Morne is characterized predominantly by black spruce trees, with pockets of balsam fir, mountain ash (dogberry), tamarack (eastern larch), mountain maple, white birch, and some other deciduous species.

Some of Gros Morne consists of rolling hills covered with forests.  Visitors will also discover exposed rock faces, bogs, ponds, and wetlands.  Gros Morne unfortunately has a number of previously forested areas which were devastated by the spruce budworm several decades ago, and which have failed to re-establish.  These significant gaps in the forest canopy become more apparent when flying over the Park at low altitudes.

Here are a few photos of our team in action:

 

 

The work was quite challenging.  There was a lot of brush and vegetation to work through, and a lot of fallen tree trunks to walk over which were hidden in the vegetation.  Also, the blocks required helicopters for access, which led to significant downtime since the helicopter often couldn't fly in Newfoundland's frequent foggy weather.  However, our team loved the experience of getting to visit Newfoundland and getting some exposure to the local culture.

All in all, this project was a very rewarding experience!

You can see more photos of our 2023 tree planting work on this site by visiting our public Planting Photos folder on Dropbox.  Go into the 2023 sub-folder, then go into the "Gros Morne National Park" sub-folder.

We'd especially like to thank Darroch Whitaker and the rest of the staff at Gros Morne for their hospitality and logistical support while we were on site.

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 NGO's, businesses, and corporations 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!

 

Tree Planting Project in Cape Breton Highlands National Park (2023)

This past Fall (2023), Replant.ca Environmental was able to assist with some tree planting work in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  Cape Breton Highlands National Park (CBHNP) is located within the northern half of Cape Breton, which is the northeast end of the province of Nova Scotia.  If you're trying to drive there, it's about an four hour drive from Halifax.

This project was designed and implemented under the direction of One Tree Planted.

 

Here's a graphic (courtesy of Google Earth) showing the approximate location of our planting sites:

 

CBHNP is characterized predominantly by balsam fir and white spruce trees, with pockets of mountain ash (dogberry), tamarack (eastern larch), red maple, white birch, and some other deciduous species.

Most of CBHNP consists of rolling hills covered with forests.  However, the Park also has a number of previously forested areas which were devastated by the spruce budworm a few decades ago, and which have failed to re-establish due to the large moose population. At the moment, the moose population is down quite a bit from historical averages, which presents an opportunity to re-establish more forest cover.

Here are a few photos of our team in action:

 

The work was quite challenging.  There was a lot of brush and vegetation to work through, and a lot of fallen tree trunks to walk over which were hidden in the vegetation.  Also, access is quite challenging, and most of the remaining work will need to be done using the assistance of helicopters.

We were very pleased to act as a supply partner to One Tree Planted on this project, doing the boots-on-the-ground tree planting work while they approved the project design and provided the financial support.

All in all, despite the challenges, this project was a very rewarding experience!

You can see more photos of our 2023 tree planting work on this site by visiting our public Planting Photos folder on Dropbox.  Go into the 2023 sub-folder, then go into the "Cape Breton Highlands National Park" sub-folder.

We'd especially like to thank Anne-Claude and Peter and the rest of the staff at CBHNP for their hospitality and logistical support while we were on site.

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 NGO's, businesses, and corporations 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!

Tree Planting Project at Murray Beach Provincial Park, in New Brunswick (2022)

This past Fall (2022), Replant.ca Environmental continued work on a long-term planting project at Murray Beach Provincial Park that we had started in 2021.  This park is located in southeastern New Brunswick.  This work was made possible thanks to a sponsorship from the TreeEra organization.

Murray Beach Provincial Park is only a 45 minute drive from Moncton, on a very scenic route along part of New Brunswick's Acadian coast.  New Brunswick has a 750km drive called the "Acadian Coastal Drive," and Murray Beach Provincial Park is on this trail (Route 955), near the southern end of the trail, in Murray Corner.  The park is near the Little Shemogue River (pronounced Shim-o-Gui), and overlooks the Northumberland Strait.

The waters of the Northumberland Strait (which is part of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, between the mainland and PEI) are known for being some of the warmest Atlantic waters north of Virginia, and are very popular with tourists.  You can see the Northumberland Strait in the background of this photo:

 

 

Not surprisingly, Murray Beach has a beautiful beach, and the park also has over one hundred camping sites, plus eight cabins.  To make reservations, visit this link.

Here's a graphic (courtesy of Google Earth) showing the location of the park:

 

The September weather was grey but warm when we were at the park this year.  But there was work to be done, so we couldn't let ourselves get distracted by the beach.

Unfortunately, Murray Beach was hit by Hurricane Dorian in 2019.  Luckily, the damages were not as severe here as in many of the other parks in the region, but there was still a significant loss of mature trees. 

The Replant.ca Environmental team planted 5,189 young seedlings in this park in 2022.  This was the second phase of a multi-year program, and the number of hardwoods will be increased significantly in 2024.  We plan to eventually provide more than seventeen different species (seven conifers and ten deciduous) to the park.

We had done a pre-planting site assessment in August 2022, a few weeks before the planting team arrived, in order to assess the success of the 2021 seedlings.  We were very pleased with the results.  We lost a few hundred of the 2021 trees (probably due to the heat wave in early August) in two exposed patches close to the beach, but the rest of the seedlings looked good, and the areas with slightly more shade looked especially healthy and vibrant.  Considering the challenging temperatures that last year's trees had to deal with during the heat wave, the success rate was excellent.

Our 2022 work continued the efforts made in 2021, with a bit of infilling in areas that were started last year, plus additional trees in various brush patches throughout the park.

Here are a few photos of the team in action at Murray Beach in September 2022:

 

 

 

 

 

We will be returning to this site in 2024 to finish the last phase of the work when we add a number of additional hardwood species.  As we wrap up the work on the site, we will also be re-planting the gaps in both edges of the walking corridor that encircles the entire site.  We will be using larger trees for that specific part of the project, which are being grown right now at our central staging area in preparation.

You can see more photos of our 2022 tree planting work on this site by visiting our public 2022 Planting Photos folder on Dropbox, then going into the "Murray Beach" sub-folder.

We'd like to thank Michel (the Park Manager) and his staff for their hospitality and support while we were on site.  We definitely look forward to returning in 2022 to continue the work that Trees For Life is making possible.

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 and corporations 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!

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.