Local group aims to plant 400 trees on private properties this year [Video]

Reep Green Solutions has set itself an ambitious goal for 2024 – planting 400 trees on 285 private properties in Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph.

The Backyard Tree Planting Program is offering them to residents at a subsidized cost. Customers pay around $160 to $230 per tree, depending on the species. Then the cities cover the costs of consultation, delivery, planting and how to care for the new tree.

“Generally the trees that we plant, you might be able to find at a nursery for a similar price and then you’d be on your own for some of the planting and delivery,” explained Aaron Boonstra, the tree operations coordinator for Reep Green Solutions.

Since public land cannot accommodate the needed tree plantings, the program was created with the goal of getting private landowners involved.

“We look at things like the soil type, whether it’s kind of sandy or clay, how …