Online registration is now open for Hamiltonians looking to take advantage of the city’s latest free tree giveway.
The city’s goal is to give away 3,000 native trees this spring, which residents can pick up, take home and plant on their private property.
Residents can go to the city’s website to register and choose their preferred species.
Drive-thru pickup will happen over four days, between June 4 and 14, at either Bayfront Park or
the city’s forestry yard on Upper Ottawa Street.
“This year we went with smaller species,” says Manager of Forestry and Horticulture Robyn Pollard.
“We’re trying to encourage people with smaller yards to jump on board and get a tree in their yard. We’ve got some really beautiful flowering trees that don’t grow to be massive oak trees.”
The city says it planted more than 30,000 trees through forestry programs over the last two years.
“Last year was a massive year, was planted almost 18,000 trees,” says Pollard. “We lost a lot of trees to the Emerald Ash Borer, and the idea here was to plant as many as we could.”