Quebec sees life in green. By 2029, the national capital aims to plant 130,000 trees on its territory so that more than a third of its urban perimeter is devoted to the canopy. On Friday, she launched an appeal to the trees to encourage the population to plant the seeds of a greener city.
Since 2021, Quebec has planted just over 23,000 trees on its territory. More than 100,000 others are therefore missing to sow to fulfill the vision of the tree which must, in the next decade, bring forest cover to 35% of its urban territory, an increase of 4% compared to the actual hour. By way of comparison, the canopy covers a quarter of Montreal’s territory.
The City admits it: it won’t be able to do it alone.
“There are 75% of land in the City of Quebec that does not belong to the City of Quebec,” said Councilor Marie-Josée Asselin, responsible for environmental issues at the executive. The contribution of the community is essential to achieve our objectives. »
To encourage citizen participation in the greening of the city, Quebec announced on Friday the creation of a one-stop shop where businesses, industries and owners of all kinds can refer before planting.
“The Collectif Canopée will offer a real ”all inclusive” for the planting of trees”, promises the City. Anyone who wants to sow will be able to do so thanks to this window, which has funding of nearly $500,000. In all, the collective hopes to deploy 2,000 trees and 250 shrubs in 2023 – eight times more than the 285 trees planted in 2022 thanks to the greening program for land that does not belong to the City.
“We want to pick up the pace,” insists the advisor. For the past few years, the City has been increasing its efforts to facilitate the increase of the canopy on private land.
The free distribution of trees has made it possible to dispose of 8,000 over the past two years. The City of Quebec also proposes to plant, at its expense, trees along the edges of private land. The capital offers a range of gasoline to its population, in addition to ensuring the maintenance of these trees and their replacement, if ever the mower were to cut them down.
This program is producing good results: half of the 23,000 trees planted since 2021 come from it. Owners interested in participating simply call the City to have employees come and sow at the indicated locations. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 2,100 people have taken advantage of it.
The City is the subject of much criticism because of the sometimes hundred-year-old trees it sacrifices to make way for the tramway. The administration of Bruno Marchand, however, undertakes to plant 30,000 in the neighborhoods bordering the route, including 5,000 along the route.
On Friday, the town hall announced its desire to “percolate the benefits of the tram” in more sectors. This is the lower town and its most concrete neighborhoods will benefit from it: Saint-Sauveur, Vanier, Lairet and Charlesbourg should therefore see their canopy increased over the next few years.
“Expectations have never been so high, our ambitions too,” said Marie-Josée Asselin, recalling COP15, which is taking place 250 km upstream from Highway 20. It remains to be seen whether the population of Quebec will embark on the greening campaign initiated by the capital.
The City believes in it. “The more initiatives we see, the more requests there will be,” hopes the adviser. There will be a ripple effect to create beauty. »