What began with an informal meeting at Lakeside Park in May, has resulted in over 3,000 trees being mapped in Kingsville.
Regarding trees as critical infrastructure for cooling streets, absorbing stormwater, reducing energy bills, increasing property values and improving public health, Chad Nantais of Strong Towns Kingsville was thrilled with the response from community members.
“We were initially shooting for a thousand trees,” said Nantais. “I’m amazed at how consistently the 22 contributors showed up.”
He added, “This is what it’s all about, looking around your neighbourhood and saying, ‘what can we do to make life better for the people in the town’. I don’t think there is any greater statement that we can make about what we care about than to get out and take action on it.”
The mappers celebrated their accomplishment with a small gathering at Colasanti’s Tropical Gardens on the morning of July 4, recognizing and rewarding the efforts of the top mappers with donated gifts from local businesses.
At the celebration, Nantais made a special note of mentioning the top mapper, Mary Reaume. “She just moved to Kingsville recently, and along with her young daughter, did over 1,100 trees while on their stroller walks.”
Reaume shared an interesting story about what led to her participation in the Rooted In Kingsville contest.
“We moved to Kingsville in February and I’m still on maternity leave. I also had surgery on my foot, and being couch-ridden for weeks, I decided to get moving again,” said Reaume. “I largely scheduled my mapping around Evelyn’s nap time. We’d set up the stroller and she’d fall asleep during our stroll, that’s when I would do some quick mapping.”
As to her motivation for participating in the mapping contest, Reaume said, “As a member of the community, I feel that I have a responsibility to put effort where I can and I just love being outside. I’ve discovered so much more of the different areas of Kingsville.”
Looking at next steps, Nantais said that the data collected will be cleaned up and presented to town council at an upcoming meeting over the next few months.
