Martin C. Barry
Elected officials from the City of Laval brought the annual Laval Earth Week to a fitting conclusion last week by overseeing the planting of more than 50 trees symbolizing the municipality’s commitment to environmental values.
Tree planting challenge
Mayor Marc Demers and Laval executive-committee member and city councillor for Sainte-Rose Virginie Dufour were assisted in the planting of the trees on a plot of land near the corner of Autoroute 440 and Daniel Johnson Boul. by representatives of several local environmental organizations. Over the following days, a total of 54 trees were planted in the area.
The area chosen, next to the heavily-travelled autoroute, is considered to be a challenging place to grow trees since it’s fully exposed to extremes of weather, including wind, as well as air pollution from vehicle acceleration and salt residue from the highway during the winter. For these reasons the trees planted were carefully selected from species considered to be especially hardy.
New ‘green’ committee
In other news occurring around Earth Day, the city announced that on the initiative of the Canadian Conference on Urban Forestry, which is holding a conference in Laval this autumn, a new municipal greening committee has been created. In fact, last week’s tree planting was one of the committee’s first activities.
Made up of representatives of the City of Laval as well as from organizations dedicated to the preservation of Laval’s wooded areas, the committee will be bringing forward other proposals for consideration. According to the city, their first goal will be to green up the area near the Carrefour Laval, thus reducing the impact of heat islands.
Businesses invited
“To meet the challenges that await us with regards to the greening of Laval, it will be essential to double up our efforts,” the mayor said last week. “In this regard, I invite the Laval business community to express their interest and to become actively involved in the future actions of the committee.”
“Following today’s tree planting, our greening committee will be submitting a series of new recommendations,” added Sainte-Rose councillor Dufour. “The members will also be identifying potential partnerships with an eye to offering our citizens an environment for living that is greener than ever and healthier.”
