OTTAWA - The City of Ottawa and its conservation partners

are pleased to announce an extension to the Green Acres program - the Ottawa

Rural Reforestation Program. Are you a rural landowner living in the Ottawa

area interested in planting a windbreak to protect your fields or a

shelterbelt to protect your home? Would you like to see that eroded creek or

river valley in the back of your property stabilized with trees? Well, you

need to apply as soon as possible to take advantage of the program - there

is still a number of trees left to meet the Spring, 2002 target of 75,000

trees! Landowners are urged to contact the LandOwner Resource Centre as soon

as possible to arrange for planting.

"The uptake in the Green Acres Program has been way above normal for tree

planting orders in the area," says Craig Huff, Forester for the City. "This

new program will add to the 200,000 trees planted over the last two years

and increase the City's forest cover from the current level of 28% - a

stated objective in the Official Plan".

The City of Ottawa is providing up to a 50% financial incentive to help

landowners take advantage of: site visits by qualified forestry personnel;

ordering, shipping and handling of tree seedlings; preparing the ground for

planting; tree planting; tending and survival assessment.

Landowners who want trees planted next Spring are encouraged to contact the

Green Acres program as soon as possible.

Green Acres is a program of the City of Ottawa in partnership with the three

Conservation Authorities, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ottawa

Stewardship Council and the LandOwner Resource Centre. Most of the seedlings

planted will come from the Ferguson Forest Centre in Kemptville.

Landowners with 1 acre or more of land interested in planting a minimum

order of 500 trees are asked to call the LandOwner Resource Centre at (613)

692-2390 or (800) 387-5304 for more information.