Want to learn more about our local trees?

This 20 minute workshop might be for you

Canopy Project Kawartha Lakes is offering short introductory workshops on the trees of Victoria Park. If you always thought gingkos were a kind of lizard or would have difficulty distinguishing a tamarack from a hemlock, or a silver maple from a sugar maple, this free workshop is for you.

In the space of 20 minutes participants will get to know a dozen of the more than 25 tree species in the park. Using clues such as leaf shape and arrangement, bark, branching, and the tree’s silhouette, they’ll learn to identify each. Youngsters will make bark rubbings – a form of artwork, that is also a way to see differences in bark texture.

A diverse assortment of trees is represented, and participants will learn interesting facts about each. Among the species they will encounter are: 

• A species that was around before the dinosaurs
• A tree with a leaf that can be close to a metre in length and that has long seed-pods that can persist through the winter
• A tree with needles that loses all its needles in the fall
• A tree with fruits popular with birds and small animals and leaves that are food for caterpillars that turn into Question Mark and Tawny Emperor butterflies
• The territorial trees of Nunavut and Northwest Territories

The mission of the not-for-profit Canopy Project Kawartha Lakes is “to protect and enhance the urban canopy in the settlement areas of the City of Kawartha Lakes (CKL).” The hope in offering these free workshops is that along with skills in identification and knowledge about some tree species, will come an appreciation of the value of our trees and the important role they play in our communities.

No registration is required. There will be sessions at 10:00, 11:00, and 12:00 Saturday, May 28th. Meet at the Victoria Park gazebo.