Georgina
November 19, 2008 05:22 PM
John Slykhuis
Students from Jennifer Baron’s Lake Simcoe Public School intermediate class were doing their bit for the environment last month as part of York Region’s Adopt-A-Stream-Crossing program.
The students teamed up with the region’s stewardship specialist Pam Fulford to plant 160 trees along Amberlee Creek, adjacent to the school in south Keswick.
They planted red oak, sugar maple, cedar, sumac and dogwood bushes.
The goal of the program for this year and next is to plant 2,000 trees at 15 different stream sies in the Lake Simcoe Basin, Ms Baron said.
This is a program that encourages students to become stewards of the environment while learning the importance of planting trees in the watershed.
Planting along stream and at regional road crossings helps prevent buildup of sediments, phosphorus, salt and other pollutants while creating a natural filter for the water.
Excess nutrients causes harm to the cold lake fishery and increases aquatic weed growth.
Supporters of the project include the South Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, the Lake Simcoe Clean-up Fund, Environment Canada and York Environmental Stewardship.
The class project was part of the water systems unit in science program in Ms Baron’s class. Until last year Ms Baron was the teacher at the outdoor education program at Sibbald Point Provincial Park since its inception.
“We are very proud of our Grade 8 students and teachers at Lake Simcoe as they became stewards of the environment to help preserve the health of Lake Simcoe streams,” Ms Barron said.