PEI

Urban roots: Charlottetown planting ceremony emphasizes importance of trees in cities

A tree planting ceremony in Charlottetown's Rochford Square took place on Friday morning.

One tree was planted in Rochford Square, 2 others will be put in Victoria Park

Left to right: Sean Finn, executive vice president of corporate services and chief legal officer for CN, MLA Richard Brown, MP Sean Casey, Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee, Chief Matilda Ramjattan of the Mi'kmaq Confederacy, Mike Rosen, president of Tree Canada, and Lt.-Gov. Frank Lewis. (Malcolm Campbell/CBC)

A tree planting ceremony in Charlottetown's Rochford Square took place on Friday morning. 

Three trees, a red maple for Canada, a red oak for P.E.I. and a white birch representing the Island's First Nations, were available to be planted. 

One was planted in Rochford Square while the other two trees were taken to Victoria Park to be planted. 

The city received funding from CN through their From the Ground Up program in partnership with Tree Canada for the project.

Three trees were part of the ceremony on Friday. One is planted in Rochford Square, while the other two will be put in Victoria Park. (Malcolm Campbell/CBC)

Urban canopy

Beth Hoar, parkland conservationist for the City of Charlottetown, said the ceremony brings a focus to what may be an overlooked issue.

"I think events like this bring awareness to how important trees are," she said.

Beth Hoar, parkland conservationist for the City of Charlottetown, says that having trees in urban areas is important. (Malcolm Campbell/CBC)

"A lot of people don't recognize that urban trees are as important as rural trees, so the ability for us to plant more trees in our urban canopy is very important environmentally, and aesthetically, socially, culturally, so I think these ceremonies bring awareness to that."

The From the Ground Up program provides funding for enhancing green spaces in cities and First Nations properties across the country.