Sandilands, Manitoba
Forest Report
Forest Update
On July 31, 2005 a violent windstorm, with
gale force winds, leveled 180,000 cubic meters of
mature pine forest that surrounds the community
of Sandilands. The area in need of replanting is
located within the rural Municipality of Piney in
Southeastern Manitoba. The replanting efforts will help restore the
forest so that it can provide habitat and food
for area wildlife, recreational benefits, local
employment, watershed protection, and carbon
sequestration. This is the fourth and final phase
of the restoration efforts which began in 2007. The goal of the project is simple: restore the
area to its natural and native tree cover which
flourished prior to the storm that destroyed
hundreds of thousands of trees in 2005. The seedlings were grown at Pineland
Forest Nursery in Manitoba and planted by
tree planting crews from the surrounding area
in two phases: approximately 20,000 trees in
May and 30,000 trees in September. The project
consisted of 50,000 Jack pine, red pine, and white
spruce trees and the last tree was placed in the
ground on September 27th. These species were
chosen because they are native Manitoba trees
and they will thrive in this particular location. Thanks to Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the Arbor Day
Foundation, and Tree Canada, the final phase
of the Sandilands recovery efforts was a huge
success.