Free tree give-away for Forest City residents

ReForest London is marking National Tree Day by giving away over a thousand trees and seedlings to residents in the Forest City.

The non-profit organization has set up pop-up tree depots around London, Ont. that offer free trees to anyone who is a resident.

"Trees have a huge impact on the quality of life in cities and they have a huge impact on human health," said Dean Sheppard, executive director ofReForestLondon.

ReForestLondon will have a variety of species available and staff and volunteers will be on hand to assist withselection. Some of the species available includesugar maple, red maple, tulip tree, fruit trees andwhite oak.

Tree depots will be open at various timesWednesday.

• Exeter Road Operations Centre, 707 Exeter Road - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Oxford Street EnviroDepot, 1570 Oxford Street West - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre, 656 Elizabeth Street - 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• ReForest London,944 Western Counties Road - 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Residents are allowed 1 to 3 trees per household, and must provide their address and email at the tree depot.

In addition to the tree depots, there are 32 locations acrossthe city where Londoners can pick up a seedling, includingScotiabankbranches, Robertson Mitsubishi and the Old East Village Grocer.

Sheppard says the organization is focusing on promoting the planting of native trees over invasive species in London.

"This week is about celebrating the health of our forests, so invasive species is always a health issue," he said. "It really invades woodlands, crashes biodiversity and pushes out native species."

Invasive speciescan spreadquickly because they do not have natural predators.

A million new trees in London

The annual initiative is part of the Million Tree Challenge, which is a campaign to encourage every Londonder to plant a tree.

"We just crossed the threshold of London's population," said Sheppard. "The community has already planted a tree for every Londoner, so now it's time for every Londoner to plant a tree.

So far, there have been over 387,000 trees planted since the campaign began.

ReForest London will also be hosting tree depots in October. For a full list, with their website.